On Monday I ran a playtest using a module called Carrion Hill. I normally dont run modules, but I thought something that wasnt my own homebrew stuff would eliminate at least some of the variables involved in a playtest.
The party Consisted of:
A gnome summoner with a Medium Biped Eidolon named tiny.
A gnome oracle with the wave foci
A Human Paladin
A Half Orc Barbarian
An Elf Conjuration Specialist wizard.
We got through 2 encounters in the module, since it was a short session.
First Encounter I modified a little putting in some extra Dark Creepers for the 5th party member, there were 5 of them. Here It was the barbarian who shined, killing 2 a round with cleave and effectively resisting their death throws ability. The Eidolon (Tiny) did ok but got poisoned twice. The summoner himself didnt do a whole lot in the encounter. The paladin and wizard kind of hung back as it seemed the barbarian could have soloed the encounter.
The second encounter with the ghoul, I doubled up on the ghoul for the extra person (I know it raised the encounter by 2 instead of 1 but I felt they could handle it and they did).
Here the paladin shone brightly nearly one shotting one of the ghouls with a crit smite and power attack. The Oracle ended up getting paralyzed trying to get into position and the barbarian dragged him to safety. One on one the eidolon was not a match for the ghoul rogue, he initially had help from the barbarian, but he had to get the paralyzed oracle out. However in the 3rd round the summoner got off his summon (1 round moving into position and 1 to cast the summon) bringing 3 giant spiders onto the field. Together, along with a little help from the wizard, they managed to bring down the second ghoul.
Overall I am still underwhelmed by the oracle. They dont make particularly good healers, or casters. The battle oracle is pretty solid but thats about it. The summoner was on the strong side, but didnt out shine either the barbarian or the paladin when they were doing their thing. And even with 3 spiders out he managed to get through his turn in an amount of time not much more then the wizard did when he was picking a spell. He did however have the stats ready (including augment summoning) ahead of time which I am sure helped.
Thanks for your post on the playtest.
Can you provide the levels for the characters? Also, any other information would help.
Having played a summoner in 3.5 previously, I second your comments on being prepared with stat cards ahead of time. They make the difference, truly!
Thanks for your post on the playtest.
Can you provide the levels for the characters? Also, any other information would help.
Having played a summoner in 3.5 previously, I second your comments on being prepared with stat cards ahead of time. They make the difference, truly!
Sorry thought I had put that. They were level 5 (called for by the module).
The paladin was sword and board with power attack, extra turning and sheild focus (dunno his 4th feat)
The barbarian was using a greatsword and had the superstitious rage ability, with power attack and cleave
The human wizard was a conjurer, he had a number of summons prepared as well as several battlefield control spells. He also had spell focus and augment summoning.
The summoner was summoning focused also having augment summoning (and spell focus). The eidolon was a biped, I believe with increased strength and 2 claw attacks. The also had the skilled evolution and increased natural armor.
The oracle was waves focused, not sure on his revalation, but he also had a level of elemental bloodline sorceror, so he could turn any engergy attack into cold spells. He did however have mostly touch spells which became difficult to get off in a crowded melee.
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Thanks for your post on the playtest.
Can you provide the levels for the characters? Also, any other information would help.
Having played a summoner in 3.5 previously, I second your comments on being prepared with stat cards ahead of time. They make the difference, truly!
Sorry thought I had put that. They were level 5 (called for by the module).
The paladin was sword and board with power attack, extra turning and sheild focus (dunno his 4th feat)
The barbarian was using a greatsword and had the superstitious rage ability, with power attack and cleave
The human wizard was a conjurer, he had a number of summons prepared as well as several battlefield control spells. He also had spell focus and augment summoning.
The summoner was summoning focused also having augment summoning (and spell focus). The eidolon was a biped, I believe with increased strength and 2 claw attacks. The also had the skilled evolution and increased natural armor.
The oracle was waves focused, not sure on his revalation, but he also had a level of elemental bloodline sorceror, so he could turn any engergy attack into cold spells. He did however have mostly touch spells which became difficult to get off in a crowded melee.
Waves Oracle here. I had the Freezing Spells and Water Sight(for Obscuring Mist) Revelations and the Deaf curse. I feel the Oracle might shine a little more when I get some ranged with the support it can hand out.
I only have a few questions about some of the abilities as im not sure they have been answered and if so I haven't found them.
A) The abilities that say "must be X level" do they mean Oracle level or actual level. Im assuming Oracle level as jumping one level into Oracle at a higher level for some of the Revelations might be interesting.
B)On the note of A. What about abilities that grant more benefits at higher levels. Do you get those benefits at the level or Oracle level since I took one level of Sorc.
C)...
Revelations are based on Oracle level. Blizzard + Freezing Spells doesn't actually work as Blizzard isn't a spell( I really want the wording changed so that the foci are a little more internally cohesive ). All Oracle level based benefits are based off Oracle level.
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Revelations are based on Oracle level. Blizzard + Freezing Spells doesn't actually work as Blizzard isn't a spell( I really want the wording changed so that the foci are a little more internally cohesive ). All Oracle level based benefits are based off Oracle level.
I figured as much with the Oracle level things. I was just curious because some of them are not that powerful for being such a high level.
As for Blizzard and Freezing Spells you are correct I totally forgot it had to be a spell. Regardless is it unlimited use? It's still decent support/damage and with Water Sight it wouldnt hinder you on casting spells into it.
RAW it is unlimited use. I don't know if that was the intent or not, but you have to be lvl 11 in order to pick it up. So I don't think that's too bad.
RAW it is unlimited use. I don't know if that was the intent or not, but you have to be lvl 11 in order to pick it up. So I don't think that's too bad.
Compare it to the Flame focus's Firestorm ability which is usable once per day; if you're right, then the fire oracle is getting ripped off big time...
I kind of agree with the original poster; the oracles seem a little underwhelming except maybe for the battle oracle.