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All in all low BAB classes aren't that good at melee combat. They just don't get the proficiencies, feats, and such that martials do.

To be more precise - by "pull their weight in a fight" I meant "be useful in a combat encounter" rather than "be decent at punching people". I apologize for the confusion - english isn't my first language so every now and then I end up missing some nuance or implying something I didn't intend to.

It can be done, but as Firebug notes those are particularly sub-optimal class choices. You can standard action summons with Wizard, Cleric, Druid, Arcanist, or Summoner (possibly a couple other ways). Those all have access to the next higher Summon spell at odd levels, where Oracle/Sorcerer are a level behind (at odd levels). And it doesn’t seem to play to their strengths; as spontaneous casters, their special special is being able to dump all their slots in one direction one day and a different direction the next, without needing to prepare. If you plan to go with Summons every combat, might as well be a prepared caster (needing to select multiple levels of Summon spells kind of chews up your limited Spells Known as well).

I guess mostly, why would you choose one of those classes?

As I've said earlier, the reason I was looking into using summoning as Sorcerer/Oracle is because I was looking for a way to provide a character that focuses a lot on out of combat utility with a way to pull their weight in a fight(specifically, a Lore Oracle). So in my particular case the class was chosen first for it's other features, and summoning was a later addition.

Well, my original "use-case" that caused me to look into this subject was a build that was mostly focused on out of combat utility (namely a Lore Oracle). So in that case the "point" of going with summoning was to make that character actually useful in combat. Though I definitely noticed that having to keep the highest available level SM spell at all times (and probably one level before that in case you run out) significantly delayed everything else, as you've noted in the last paragraph.

So, I've been receiving some mixed signal in regards to the efficacy of summoning as a Sorcerer/Oracle (full caster progression but stuck casting as a full round action). I've seen opinions ranging from "amazing" to "basically useless". So, I figured I'll just come out here and ask: what are your opinions on the subject? Do you think Oracles and Sorcerers are "good enough" at summoning to use it as their primary tactic in combat? Or do you think such a character would not be making a good contribution to a fight? Anything in between?

How are Sunsouls/Solar Ifrits viewed in Qadira (and Katapesh in general)? Are they mistreated like the other Geniekin races? Does their connection to the sun, and thus Sarenrae, give them a free pass? Or are they so uncommon noone can even tell they're not just an Aasimar?

*Kelesh, not Katapesh, obviously :)

How are Sunsouls/Solar Ifrits viewed in Qadira (and Katapesh in general)? Are they mistreated like the other Geniekin races? Does their connection to the sun, and thus Sarenrae, give them a free pass? Or are they so uncommon noone can even tell they're not just an Aasimar?

Hello James and thank you for your time! Here's something I've been wondering about. All signs on earth and sky (as far as they are visible to the fans at least) point to the Oracle becoming essentially a Sorcerer class option. Now, that in and of itself raises a lot of questions (Are we going to see bloodlines modeling mysteries? What's happening with Curses? Archetypes? Part of the "mysterious bloodlines"? Ahhhh!), but my guess would be that you're not at liberty to reveal that information at the moment :) . So, here's my actual question: how does Oracle becoming part of the Sorcerer class going to affect Golarion lore? Are Oracles still considered a seperate thing? Or are they being retconned into literal "divine sorcerers"?

Here's something I can't seem to find an answer to - what the lifespan of the Geniekin races is supposed to be on Golarion? Most people I ask seem to think it's the same as post-errata Aasimars and Tieflings. Except of course that Ifrits, Undines, Oreads and Sylphs were not mentioned in the ARG errata. The matter is further confused by Sulis, who in the ARG have a different lifespan than both the Aasimars/Tieflings and the rest of the elemental planetouched.

A related question - if the Geniekin really do live for hundreds of years, how does that interact with the "Mostly Human" alternate racial trait? It's kind of hard not to realize you're not human if it took you four times as long as your supposed peers to reach adulthood.