Oh, and I think that what AM MYSTIC THEURGE is trying to say is just that, as a dual spontaneous caster MT, as long as you know a spell in either of your classes, you essentially can count it as a spell known for both of your classes as long as it falls under the level maximum for the MT Combined Spells class feature. Therefore, as long as you know a spell as an Oracle, you effectively know it as a Sorcerer/Bard as well and vice-versa, without actually having to learn it from the other class's spell list or take up the spells known slot for that class.
Of course, it would have been nice if he had just said that.
Oh, and I think that what AM MYSTIC THEURGE is trying to say is just that, as a dual spontaneous caster MT, as long as you know a spell in either of your classes, you essentially can count it as a spell known for both of your classes as long as it falls under the level maximum for the MT Combined Spells class feature. Therefore, as long as you know a spell as an Oracle, you effectively know it as a Sorcerer/Bard as well and vice-versa, without actually having to learn it from the other class's spell list or take up the spells known slot for that class.
Of course, it would have been nice if he had just said that.
MORE A COMMENT ON THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF SPELLS YOU CAN KNOW, SO IF YOU CHOOSE TO HAVE REDUNDANT SPELLS YOU ARE WASTING YOUR OWN TIME.
BUT COMBINED SPELLS DO IN FACT HELP A SPONTANEOUS THEURGE.
The thing I'm seeing is that you will likely be spending two feats and getting expensive items anyways because either:
A) You go Bard, still need the Arcane Armor Mastery feat or mithral armor, plus the Eldritch Heritage feat to get the Sanguine bloodline power, and another feat if you want another power. Though, if bonus cure spells are going to be your forte, this might be the way to go. I by no means meant to say that this option is unworkable, just not my first choice.
No need for AAM (which has AAT as a pre-req). Bard has the ability to cast in light armor with no penalty. If I take Eldritch Heritage & Armored Caster feat (3.5 feat) that get's me the ability to cast in medium armor immediately (at 3rd level, assuming I take AC first). Negating the need to change my armor anytime soon. Eventually I can do Mithral Yo-Oroi armor, but that'll be a few levels down the road. That has me in medium armor that's actually heavy with just the mithral cost.
B) You go Sanguine Sorc, and need both the Arcane Armor feats and mithral armor to disregard ASF for medium armor. And you get the bloodline powers, better spell progression, and meet the prereqs for MT one lvl earlier. But if you're more focused on the build than the spells, I can see where Haunted Eyes and Secrets of the Grave could draw you away from this option for flavor reasons, as you wouldn't be able to get them this way.
If I go this route (and it is the more thematically pleasing), then I need for heavy armor Mithral Yo-Oroi, AAT and AAM, and I have to enchant the armor as +1 Twilight in order to do that, and I burn a swift action every round I cast. Doable, but it means I'll be choosing spells with no somatic part at first to avoid the spell failure as much as possible at lower levels. That's doable, spells like Truestrike and Mass Flare have no somatic component. But it's a hard enough slog as it is without that painful period of spell failure rolls.
And as for expensive items, mithral is 4k, really not that much by the time you hit 6th-7th lvl.Either way though, I'd probably try to get more Cure spells through summoned creatures. A number of them have access to Cure spells, and can cast them 2+ times for you without using up but one of your castings, not to mention the extra options they bring to the table both in and out of combat. Of course, that's just me.
Take what you like and disregard the rest.
LOL, I love all suggestions, even if I don't take them. I do need to remember the cureability via summons. I need to remember that too, one of the summon monster spells summons 'elemental' of an appropriate size. I need to remember to bug the GM about summoning negative energy elementals to heal myself and injure third parties. :)
MORE A COMMENT ON THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF SPELLS YOU CAN KNOW, SO IF YOU CHOOSE TO HAVE REDUNDANT SPELLS YOU ARE WASTING YOUR OWN TIME.
BUT COMBINED SPELLS DO IN FACT HELP A SPONTANEOUS THEURGE.
Ah, but AM MYSTIC THEURGE has failed his RAW rules check. Combined Spells doesn't work for spontaneous MTs if both classes are Spontaneous. Not until they errata it anyway. As it's written, a spontaneous MT can't use the ability at all, since it limits him to spells he prepared with his non-spontaneous class, which he doesn't have.
I am going to try to talk the GM into modifying it so that I just have to be able to cast the spell to use it, which is what it should be for a spontaneous MT, but the core rules make it a useless ability for a spontaneous/spontaneous MT.
As to wasting spells known, if I can't get the CS redone by the GM, then it's not a waste. If I can, then I won't have to.
I removed a post. Please don't tell people that they are playing the game wrong just because they made different choices than you.
Ok,
Update. I went with Arcane Duelist Bard. And, since the B3 is out now, I have official rules for the eastern vampires. Given they don't drink blood, I am not going to worry about the sanguine bloodline power. It wouldn't actually fit with the character now.
I took Dance as my perform, and I'm styling it as Tai Chi maneuvers in combat, so as he moves in to attack, he performs a series of flourishes and such. This works well given his oracle curse is Tongues, and he can't use language dependent bardic performances.
Using the 'Armored Mage' feat from 3.5, he's wearing medium armor and taking no spell failure penalties. I'm working on building him Mithral Yo'Oroi armor, so eventually he'll have a really good set of heavy armor that's medium (and can thus still cast in without penalties). I'll need 8 levels before I hit Mystic Theurge. Not too bad. My 5th level feat will be craft magical arms & Armor, but 7 and 9 are going to be Practiced Spellcaster.
It's honestly not as big an issue on the spell casting side for slogging, I'm actually one of the two melee tanks, so basically I'll be a melee guy at lower levels, and a nasty spell caster at higher levels. At 3rd level, I have a BAB of +1 (which sucks, but all future levels are +1 BAB per level) and 17hp (average hp for d8 and no con bonus). I'm thinking my 4th level attribute point will go into Con, so I'll have another 4 hp from that.
I have 7 1st level spells, and 9 cantrips. That's not bad at 3rd level honestly.
EDIT: Actually, I'll be taking Practiced Spellcater at 5th and 7th, can't take Magic arms and Armor until 9th level (5 levels of spell caster).