So I was passing the crux of my build plan for a new character by an experienced player before last night's game. I'm playing an Ifrit Oracle of Heavens, and I'm taking some options for when the traditional 'spam color spray or dazzle spell' doesn't work. I'm taking the Blackened curse to get a little blasting, I get either cure or harm spells free (I've chosen cure), and I intend to use my oracle spells known to concentrating on buffing.
The experienced player stopped me in the middle of all this. "Myst, the problem with your oracle is the exact same problem you're going to have with the sorcerer you're playing now: your spell selection is all over the place. Early on it looks really cool because you can do everything, but later on you'll suddenly realize that your character is gimped because he can do a lot of things okay but nothing great enough to actually be effective."
So here's the question: Does a spontaneous caster have to focus their spells known on one or at best two 'themes' (blasting/buffing/battlefield control) in order to be useful to the party?
And does my Oracle fall into this trap, since they get all those 'everything else' spells for free?
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There are a few schools of thought. One says focus focus focus. Build your character around a trick and beat that trick to death. Another say focus in moderation in case something is not vulnerable to your trick.
A final one says focus is not necessary but take spells that can serve more than one purpose. Summon Monster is the classic example but for spontaneous casters taking it at every level can be a problem. Protection from Evil is a great spell with many benefits. It gives +2 to AC which is nice by itself but also provides blocks mental control which makes it a great spell at higher levels. On top of that it can give someone another save against mental control when the spell is cast. So you are getting three uses for one spell known. But wait there's more: it also blocks bodily contact from summoned creatures.
I am a fan of that school because you can get a lot out of a few spells and that lets you respond to a variety of situations with your limited spells.
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One of the great things about Oracles is that their Mysteries help round out a narrow spell list.
I would hardly consider it a 'trap'. When creating an Oracle choosing your Curse and Mystery, you are choosing your characters abilities, what spells you want to be able to cast, and role in the party.
Using your Ifrit Favored Class ability to make your Revelations more potent will help keep them useful as your level increases (and even give you access to abilities within a Revelation faster than normal--and there is NO max dice cap on damage dealt by Revelations).
Also remember that Spontaneous Casters can 'forget' a spell to pick up a new one at even numbered levels.
Personally I pick what looks fun and best fits the character's envisioned role in the party.
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To the OP, a couple of questions:
1) Does your group subscribe to the concept of "party roles" and each character is expected to fill one?
2) Do YOU see a "problem" with you current sorcerer as the experienced player cits?
For #1, if your group expects character to fit a particular role, make sure the role slotted for your Oracle is one that you want to play. Understanding that role can help define the spell list.
Personally, I think the idea of players-must-fill-party-role is vastly overblown. Most players in my games make "what do I want to play" the 1st priority. They also tend towards more well-rounded characters rather than trying to optimize into glass-jaw/one-trick-pony characters but different strokes for different groups...
For #2, if you don't see a problem with your sorcerer character, then there's nothing to "fix" with your oracle build.
Optimization aside, I do think that "don't try to do everything" is good advice. I believe you can get a better play experience (mechanically & role-play) if you tailor your spellcaster around a particular theme. Be really good at one form of magic and decent in a few others. Trying to "cover all the bases" tends to lead to watered-down or directionless characters in my experience.
For spontaneous casters I think your selection of feats and other abilities often needs to be focused on one thing to be most effective, but not your spells. Take the one or two spells needed for this specialization and then round out your character with a diverse selection of other spells.
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Well, specializing is good up to a point. Certainly, if you try to be good at both melee and want high DCs on your spells, you're not going to be good at either, but at the same time I'd say you don't need to throw everything out the window to be effective either.
It depends on what exactly you're trying to do, I think. If you want to focus on save-or-suck spells, yeah, you're going to need to invest a lot into that - Spell Focus, metamagic, etc. (Same goes for blasting.) If you want to summon something every combat, it definitely pays to invest in Augment and maybe Superior Summoning. But on the other hand, you could be a very effective spellcaster with a combination of battlefield control, buffs, summoning, etc., without investing too much in any one thing.
IMO, I'd rather be making decent contributions in every fight than dominating some and being useless in others, but if you want to Baleful Polymorph every damn thing that ticks you off and are willing to forgo other things to do it, by all means do that.
To the OP, a couple of questions:
1) Does your group subscribe to the concept of "party roles" and each character is expected to fill one?
2) Do YOU see a "problem" with you current sorcerer as the experienced player cites?
Well to clarify, I'm playing a sorcerer in a Carrion Crown campaign while starting the Oracle in a Shattered Star campaign with a completely different group. The SS group is brand new to me, so I can't tell if they subscribe to roles or not. When I asked about party composition, they said Barb-Ninja-Cleric (going for Mystic Theurge) and that they thought a mixed caster damage dealer would be good. They also said that I should play what I wanted to play, so they're definitely not inflexible.
The player I sought advice from is in the CC campaign with my sorcerer, and I'd have to agree that he *did* have a problem until I did some retraining.
So yeah, I think he had a point about my Sorcerer. I've seen a big improvement in my ability to participate in battle when I retrained and changed my spell selection. Luckily, his advice about that character was early enough that I could do it legally.
For #1, if your group expects character to fit a particular role, make sure the role slotted for your Oracle is one that you want to play. Understanding that role can help define the spell list.
Personally, I think the idea of players-must-fill-party-role is vastly overblown. Most players in my games make "what do I want to play" the 1st priority. They also tend towards more well-rounded characters rather than trying to optimize into glass-jaw/one-trick-pony characters but different strokes for different groups...
My initial thought with the new group was "You guys will have a Mystic Theurge, so I don't *need* to worry about being a generalist." I grabbed the blackened so that I could do damage if the group needed it, but otherwise wanted to focus on particular things. I'll be spending most of my feats into the dazzle illusion spells of the Oracle of Heavens line. After further consideration and this thread, I think I'll be using my limited spell selection to do battlefield control and illusion based save-or-suck, with an occasional buff spell if I have the room.
But I think the majority of my future spell selection needs to be done after I sit down with the Cleric/MT player and see what HE wants to do. :)
As long as the spell you choose can be spammed out and actually do something useful, it doesn't matter whether you focus.
Pick spells that can target different saving throws or are good buffs.