I'm making my first character for PFS (always played with just friends previously) and would appreciate any feedback/critique/suggestions.
The character concept is an Elven Battle Oracle with the Ancient Lorekeeper archetype. I know elves don't make the best oracles, but I do feel this offers excellent flexibility in terms of having both divine and arcane spells and is a good second line/back-up fighter. I don't intend to be great at any one thing, but I suspect I can be very good at many things...
Stats are as follows (Elf racial adjustments are already included):
Str 14
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 16
I don't like to have any negative adjustments if at all possible, but if there is a compelling reason I should, I'm all ears.
Elf Racial traits are:
-Elven Immunities
-Keen Senses
-Elven Magic
-Fleet-footed
-Low-Light Vision
Oracle Mystery: Most likely battle, but I am also considering ancestor or wood.
Oracle Curse: Legalist (because I am never compelled to give my word to anyone - seems like a harmless enough curse)
Spells:
0: Guidance, Light, Read Magic, Stabilize
1: Bless, Divine Favor, Tap Inner Beauty
Traits: Warrior of Old and either Storyteller (from Lantern Lodge), Eastern Mysteries (from Qadira) or Expert Duelist (from Taldor).
Feats & Abilities:
1st: Revelation - torn between Skill at Arms, Surprising Charge and Warsight, Feat - Combat Reflexes or Improved Initiative
I am envisioning him using a reach weapon to make trip attacks, so he should not be provoking AoO at the early levels.
I have not given this too much thought beyond first level but would appreciate input and suggested builds to L12.
Where is the legalist oracle curse from?
Where is the legalist oracle curse from?
From Blood of Fiends. I didn't notice that the oracle curses in that book were limited to Tieflings. I think anyone can take them.
One of my favorite feats, especially for a PFS Elf is Breadth of Experience.
Some random points in a random order.
Legalistic is mechanically by far the best curse.
I think Oracles only know 2 1st lvl spells at lvl 1 (+cure or inflict).
Ancient Lorekeeper seems like a good fit thematically for the Pathfinder Society.
I would drop the wisdom to 8 to get the int to 12 for an extra skill point a level.
Skill at Arms doesn't need to happen until level 3 when you can afford MW heavy armor and a new MW martial weapon. Although as an Elf you already have long sword prof. and a better dex so I'd just skill skill at arms for your character.
With 3/4 Bab and an unexciting strength I don't think tripping will go especially well for you.
I really like Command as a spell for a 1st level oracle.
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I'm not sure you need a 14 in dexterity. 12 or 16 are your two sweet-spots: one makes the most use of full plate while the other makes the most use out of a breastplate.
Two stat sets I would recommend are:
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 14
Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 14
One is for heavy armour, while one is meant to benefit the wearing of medium armour.
If you are interested in keeping a higher charisma than that (although it doesn't usually help a martial character), I would recommend taking advantage of the Dreamspeaker alternate racial trait, because dream once per day is a very powerful ability to which very few characters will have access.
Thanks for the feedback so far. Please keep it coming.
I will definitely consider Breadth of Experience and Dreamspeaker. Although, I'm really not sure how useful Dreamspeaker would be. Will there be many situation sin PFS where I would need to get a message across vast distances quickly? I would certainly consider it for non-PFS play.
As an elf, I am giving up weapon familiarity in favor of fleet-footed (Run feat and more importantly, +2 to Initiative). I would probably start off using a longspear as my melee weapon if I don't take skill at arms to start.
I like the alternate stat arrays, but wouldn't I need a higher Cha to eventually cast 5th and 6th level spells? Also, I was reluctant to have a 16 Str, since mechanically, I will be using a weapon two-handed and there is only a +1 damage difference between a 14 and a 16 Str.
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Thanks for the feedback so far. Please keep it coming.
I will definitely consider Breadth of Experience and Dreamspeaker. Although, I'm really not sure how useful Dreamspeaker would be. Will there be many situation sin PFS where I would need to get a message across vast distances quickly? I would certainly consider it for non-PFS play.
As an elf, I am giving up weapon familiarity in favor of fleet-footed (Run feat and more importantly, +2 to Initiative). I would probably start off using a longspear as my melee weapon if I don't take skill at arms to start.
I like the alternate stat arrays, but wouldn't I need a higher Cha to eventually cast 5th and 6th level spells? Also, I was reluctant to have a 16 Str, since mechanically, I will be using a weapon two-handed and there is only a +1 damage difference between a 14 and a 16 Str.
I can think of many situations where just being able to clarify with the VC while abroad could be very helpful. Or think of it as a way to take someone else's knowledge check (phone a friend).
A longspear is a great weapon, but Skill At Arms is an excellent revelation as well. If you plan to wear heavy armour, grab a guisarme or lucerne hammer.
You will eventually need a higher charisma, but you don't need it yet. A headband of alluring charisma +2 will need to be obtained when you hit level 10; I think you can pull that off, right? As for higher strength, it's also +1 to hit, and it makes it a lot easier to reach 18, which is your next big damage boost. As a 3/4 BAB character, you want all the boosts to attack you can obtain.
As a first feat, I would actually suggest Toughness. You're a d8 class with a 12 constitution, and having 13 hp is a much better situation than a mere 10.
Not sure what traits you were thinking about, but Elf allows you to take Warrior of Old for the +2 to Initative without using a combat trait without giving up the weapon fam.
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Not sure what traits you were thinking about, but Elf allows you to take Warrior of Old for the +2 to Initative without using a combat trait without giving up the weapon fam.
But he should actually take them both. Weapon Familiarity isn't helping him (elven curve blade is only shades better than a falchion), and Run is a decent bonus feat for a heavy armour user.
For traits, I was definitely going to pick up Warrior of Old for an additional +2 Initiative.
I am undecided about my second trait. I was thinking of one of the following: Storyteller, Eastern Mysteries, or Expert Duelist, but now considering Observant (to pick up Perception as a class skill, since I lose my Mystery skills with the Ancient Lorekeeper archetype) or Heirloom Weapon (for +2 bonus to a combat maneuver).