Help me pick four Arcane Spells for someone stuck to the Oracle Spell list?

I have an Oracle who is a Spirit Guide, and my GM is giving me the ability to pick the Lore Spirit ability "Arcane Enlightenment"

The shaman's native intelligence grants her the ability to tap into arcane lore. The shaman can add a number of spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1) to the list of shaman spells she can prepare. To cast these spells she must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell's level, but the saving throw DCs of these spells are based on her Wisdom rather than Intelligence. When she casts these spells, they are treated as divine rather than arcane. Each time the shaman gains a level after taking this hex, she can choose to replace one of these spells for a new spell on the wizard/sorcerer spell list.

He is giving this to be despite the fact that it does not work by RAW because Oracles do not prepare spells, they simply know them. However, my GM is giving it to me under the caveat that I can only pick the spells once.

As in, I can only pick the four spells once, though I could retrain them later.

My current Oracle is largely a buffer, healer, and a summoner.

I was definitely thinking of Magic Missile/Acid Arrow, Enlarge Person, and Invisibility but I am open to all suggestions. I mostly Summon, so I wanted some more buffs/damage/control of the battlefield.

Lucky you! I'm envious. If you want a damage spell, have you considered snowball in lieu of Magic Missile / Acid Arrow?

You lose the range, but it has no SR, and requires a fortitude save for partial (not all) for the target to avoid being staggered. And it does excellent damage. If you can get hold of a Rime Rod you can have those darn snowballs entangle three times a day.

Glitterdust is awesome, as is Spider Climb. So is Grease. I love Grease. Grease weapons. Grease doorways. However grease becomes a little less useful against flying opponents. What level are you? (I know that you're at least level 4, but I don't know how far beyond that you are.)

Hmm

Absolutely the #1 choice should be Haste.

Level 6, almost seven, so I can only choose from 1-3 level spells.

Sadly, Snowball is still a thrown touch attack and my Dex is absolutely miserable at 12. It does look very appealing though, I just want something reliable, which was why I was mainly thinking Magic Missile. No roll, just damage.

Glitterdust does look very useful as a debuffing spell, Grease is a bit of a classic and I should have considered it more.

Saddly, Haste is useful but not too useful. My party is not really keen on full attacks, we have a Tetori and a Magus+my oracle who is very caster focused, so we'd rarely gain the full value that haste has to offer.

You said you summon, though. Haste is fantastic for a summoner.

True, it would do quite a bit of work. Though I worry about buffing Allies that are purely disposable simply because Haste is a 3rd level spell and I do not get too many of those a day. Typically they end up being used for multiple summons.

Still, Haste would get better as I got better summons, though our campaign is molasses in terms of XP...it would still be useful.

Honestly right now I am also retraining my feats, and I have been debating between getting Augment Summoning or grabbing Battle Cry and an extra revelation to pick up Fortune for maximum reroll trolling. So while most of my current usefulness comes from Summoning I am not fully committed to it yet.

Mirror Image really is a good choice for getting you out of a dangerous spot. Not on your list of spell types but who can guarantee they'll never be ambushed or make a mistake which puts them out of position.

If you don't always fight indoors the extra movement alone makes Haste worthwhile.

Add another vote to Grease and Spider Climb. Invisibility and Enlarge person, as you first suggested, are good choices too.

I would definitely include Invisibility if you don't have access to it by other means. For me at least, it's been a bacon saver. Since you say you like to summon, this is even better as you don't lose your invisibility when summoning or when your summons attack.

Another saver of bacons would be Fly, although I'm sure there are cleric spells that give you some equivalent to the fly spell (can't say, never played cleric or oracle), but this has gotten me out of a lot of jams. If cleric does have a spell that's comparable, then by all means skip this one.

I'll add to the haste vote. I know you said you summon and this will help those for sure, however it's also something that if your party doesn't get it now from another member, they'll be happy that you're tossing it on them. Especially if you have an archer or other martial character in your party that focuses on multiple attacks. Really good spell on pouncing summon creatures for sure.

Fireball can of course be useful. Especially when you run into numerous enemies.

I've been told on the threads that stinking cloud is really good, although I've not yet had a chance to try it (long hiatus from game as DM went to become a marine), so I can't be certain myself. It has obvious potential for debilitating debuff and battlefield control, but could be rough for your group and summons, I'm not sure.

There are numerous others I could list, but I'll toss up Create Pit while before I press the "submit post" button. Solid battlefield control, doesn't hinder your allies as much as the fog spells, plus it's just fun imagining enemies making cartoon noises before falling into the pit. You could go for spiked pit instead, but then you probably wouldn't want to send your summoned creatures into the pit after them like you'd be more apt to do with the normal create pit. Having the summoned creatures handle anyone that comes up isn't bad either though.

Personally, I'd split your capabilities here, giving you the broadest set of options possible. You only need one offensive spell. Since Acid Arrow requires a touch attack it's basically in the same boat as Snowball. Just snag Magic Missile and you'll be set.

Next you're going to want 1-2 buffs:

The big advantage of Haste is that it scales beautifully. In four levels you won't be using 3rd level spell slots to cast Summons... but you /will/ be using them to cast Haste. The Magus not full attacking confuses me, since that's literally the entire Magus playbook.

Fly is nice, but with a Magus in the party it shouldn't be needed (strictly speaking the Magus can also cover Haste, but you have more 3rd level spell slots than him and you'll get it sooner).

Heroism is another great buff spell, and one that the Magus doesn't get normally.

Probably some kind least one crowd control option:

Call the Void can control the area immediately around you and really deter attackers, but you can do better than that I think. Though the spell is hilarious, you want to stop the other guy before he gets to you.

Grease can lock down an area of the battlefield or screw with any big individual opponent (as long as they're holding a weapon).

Fog Cloud is a go-to.

Glitterdust might be my favorite though. Blinding is always useful, and when you need the anti-invisibility effect, you really need it.

And some kind of defense:

Invisibility is the obvious, of course

Blur and Mirror Images also work, and scale relatively nicely for your purposes. I'd take the latter over the former, personally.

There's been a lot of good spells mentioned so far, but I'm surprised no one's mentioned Heroism. It tends to be more subtle than flashy due to it's flat +2 effect, but it's a solid bonus on important things, and lasts long enough to have a single casting buff someone for an entire dungeon run.

That said, it seems like a lot of these suggestions tend to be level 3 spells (as that's where things really start getting interesting). Be careful not to overload on level 3s, though, as you're not going to have the spell slots to cast all of them.

I wouldn't include Fireball.

Why? Because she's a spirit guide oracle, and she always has the ability to pick up a different wandering spirit and get its spells for the day and a different hex.

If she wants fireballs, she goes flame spirit that day, and can also pick up the hex that lets her see through fog / smoke / mist (allowing her to cast the clerical spell "Obscuring Mist" on herself or the enemy and still see to hit them with fireballs.

Likewise, the wandering spirit will give her access to fly and overland flight if she goes for other wandering spirits. I'd concentrate the Lore choices on things she could not get from the other wandering spirits she has access to.

I should mention that Glitterdust is not only a debuff, but it also makes invisible creatures somewhat visible so that your party can hit them. It's an excellent choice.

Hmm

Absolutely the #1 choice should be Haste.

With Channel Vigor and Blessing of Fervor available, Haste is not needed.

The Create Pit line is good, Acid Pit in particular.

RumpinRufus wrote:

Absolutely the #1 choice should be Haste.

With Channel Vigor and Blessing of Fervor available, Haste is not needed.

The ability allows you to replace one spell a level, Blessing of Fervor isn't online yet for this character and Channel Vigor is self-only - far from ideal for a summoner/battlefield controller.

The Create Pit line is good, Acid Pit in particular.

Having been a Stonelord archetype Dwarf Paladin on the receiving end of this spell, yes it is a great spell. if you don't have climb or help, the acid pit will disable and damage the target.

Glitterdust is really good. Rope Trick is good too if no one has it. A good ability of Rope Trick is that the rope stands tall perfectly wihout being tied to anything. That fact saved the entire party when the 3 people wearing armor were in danger of drowning in 20 ft of water (they fell off the boat into a lagoon). You also get cover inside the Rope Trick.

1st level:
Silent image- this is an amazing spell...
Thunderstomp- ranged trip, scales well

2nd level:
Invisibility is totally the best choice because summoning doesn't end invisibility!

3rd level:
Vamp Touch isn't a terrible choice
Haste is boss though

I take my other selections back - most useful spell is Ray of Enfeeblement, level 1. Ranged strength penalty is extremely useful, no save allowed. 1d6 +1 per two caster levels (max 1d6+5)

RumpinRufus wrote:

Absolutely the #1 choice should be Haste.

With Channel Vigor and Blessing of Fervor available, Haste is not needed.

I would disagree. Channel Vigor falls flat in this case because it's a personal spell - useful for a combat oracle, not for a support oracle. Blessing of Fervor is a 4th level spell so it's more costly, and it can't provide all the benefits of Haste - for example, if you make an extra attack, you don't get the extra bonus on the attack that Haste provides or the AC buff. Likewise, you can't move quickly and get the attack and AC buff.

Imbicatus wrote:

RumpinRufus wrote:

Absolutely the #1 choice should be Haste.

With Channel Vigor and Blessing of Fervor available, Haste is not needed.

I would disagree. Channel Vigor falls flat in this case because it's a personal spell - useful for a combat oracle, not for a support oracle. Blessing of Fervor is a 4th level spell so it's more costly, and it can't provide all the benefits of Haste - for example, if you make an extra attack, you don't get the extra bonus on the attack that Haste provides or the AC buff. Likewise, you can't move quickly and get the attack and AC buff.

Granted, Haste is the superior spell. But it's not so superior that it's worth using a limited arcane spell known to learn it as an Oracle when you have alternatives that are good enough.

I will definitely consider Pit/Spiked pit, simply because I could design a cohort entirely around throwing people into pits and the thought makes me giggle like a schoolgirl.

If I don't go with that option, then Pit is good for being a second level spell, same with Glitterdust and Invisibility. I am mainly looking for 3rd level spells powerful enough to compete with an unaugmented Summon Monster III (which spiked pit+cohort definately is), 2nd level spells in general (I don't like most of the Cleric's second level spells) and first levels spells that remain useful like Grease.

While I am not tabling Haste, as Imbicatus said there are other options I can use. Eventually. We are leveling quite slowly.

Just because I want to know Chain of Perdition does not mean I am going to waste a Spell Slot on learning it from the opposite school...as it were.

Honestly right now, Invisibility and Glitterdust both really appeal to me because they are very solid second level spells. So is the Pit spell line if I take the reposition specialist cohort. I like the idea of Magic Missile just to have consistent damage, but despite how useful MM is I almost feel bad for taking it since it is just so boring. Boring but useful wins out unfortunately.

Grease is also something I am looking at heavily.

Anything else guys?

The Beast Shape, Monstrous Humanoid, etc. lines could make for a nice theme to tranfer into a "spirit guide" for other folk, as well as make for nice versatility spells.

I like the idea of Magic Missile just to have consistent damage, but despite how useful MM is I almost feel bad for taking it since it is just so boring. Boring but useful wins out unfortunately.

Magic Missile plus a Rod of Toppling can get pretty spicy. Considering a Rod of Toppling works nicely with a Chain of Perdition too (pants 'em AND trip 'em), you might get good mileage from Magic Missile beyond the boring damage.

Plus, nothing says spell buster so much as a readied action Magic Missile to the face. "Take 3d4+3 damage for casting that spell, and make that DC = 10 + 3d4+3 + spell level concentration check or lose that spell while you are at it."

My caution about Create Pit is that it doesn't work on Huge or larger creatures, or against fliers. If you end up fighting a lot of monsters in those categories, it quickly becomes useless.

It just depends on your GM how many of the enemies he throws at you fall into (no pun intended) those categories.

Shrink Item- OMG the shenanigans you can pull with this...