I want to design an oracle for an upcoming pathfinder game set in a steampunk fantasy setting; at this point in time, I don't have many details on the campaign world.
Basically, I want to make a technological savant with a magical bent; I'm basing the concept on Kaylee Frye from the Firefly series. I want the character to be good with machines, but rather than just being really smart, I want the character to be intuitive; like Kaylee, the "machines just speak to me."
The game is 7th level with a 25 point buy. I'd like some advice on which mystery and curse I should take, as well as some general advice on feats and spells; I'm not very familiar with clerical spells. In addition, since this is a steampunk setting, guns will be more common and available, so I'm thinking I should dabble in their usage.
As far as religion goes, this character isn't really into gods and the like. His power is based on a philosophy that mixes the (literal) Ghost in the Machine (that is, machines have indwelling spirits) and the Clockwork Universe Theory (short version, the universe to a mechanical clock wound up by a supreme being(s). It continues ticking along, as a perfect machine, with its gears governed by the laws of physics, making every single aspect of the machine completely predictable).
For the love of Iomede do not take Haunted.
Lol, not likely. I'm thinking of maybe Tongues (speaking in the language of the machines), or perhaps lame. Sadly, there aren't a lot of curses to choose from.
I may take a single level of wizard to get the Spellslinger archetype; free feat as well as the arcane gun and mage bullets.
Yay! I love doing odd character concepts as oracles.
You could take Clouded Vision and fluff it as a long-term incurable case of Arc Eye, or take Lame and have a mechanical limb. You can also take Deaf and have lost your hearing in an industrial accident. (Or, for a more mystical bent, maybe your character can only hear the voices of crafted objects.)
Guns become a better option if your DM is using the "guns are commonplace" (or higher) tech level (and it sounds like they are), since (metal or battle) oracles can get firearm proficiency as a revelation then. (Along with better melee proficiencies, which make this "worth it" in my mind; if you'd rather spend a feat on proficiency, just spend that feat on Extra Revelation instead.) Amateur Gunslinger (a feat) gets you some utility out of firearms, but none of the options are very good for you.
Given what's available to the oracle, I'd probably play up the clockwork universe angle at least a little bit, since there's only so much oracle material that relates directly to machines. When the character does divination, they're not asking a god or anything; they're gaining insight into the grand machine that is the physical universe and working out intuitively how things will turn out based on their current positions and velocities, on a grand scale.
If you can use the "Seeker" archetype, that gives you Trapfinding and it gives you Disable Device as a class skill, at the cost of some revelations and the class skill you'd normally get. It's not a bad archetype in general, particularly if you do use a ranged weapon. (Since that'll mean that your dex is good enough to mess with traps.)
As far as mysteries go:
The "obvious" choice is probably metal. It has some crafting-related options, gives you a metal-heavy spell list, and a few of the options - like Dance of the Blades - do work with guns, if you decide to go that route. It also gets you a boost to Disable Device, which is the "mess with mechanical things" skill, and if your DM is playing with the "commonplace guns" rules, then it allows you to get proficiency in those as a mystery, which is pretty sweet. (In addition to scoring your proficiency with better melee options.)
Lore is probably the place to look if you want to play up the more philosophical side. It allows you to replace things normally handled with smarts or dexterity with intuition, which fits your concept. The spell list is really hit-and-miss, but does get you some big hits (time stop!) and some things that work okay with your concept. (Uh... Identify!)
Time, Battle, and Wind are probably worth at least glancing at, but I don't think they fit as well, even with some refluffing. (Wind is unfortunately much less electricity-themed than its corresponding character options for other classes.)
As far as spells go, Mending is not only a pretty good spell, it's about as far as you can go with "tinkering with my magic", and it's level zero. It's also totally awesome with guns, which have a tendency to break themselves. At level 2 you get Make Whole and Masterwork Transformation, but the latter is purely a scroll option; you don't want to waste one of your precious spells known on something you'll only cast a few times ever, and even the former I'd be wary of, since it's rarely better than Mending. Maybe grab some scrolls of Make Whole if you think you'll need it. Beyond that, I'd probably just take goodstuff; check out threads about oracles in general for that. (Or the indispensable spells thread.)
With Use Magic Device - every oracle's best friend and thematically appropriate - you can get a wand of basically anything, so other class's spell lists are at your disposal.
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Thread dotted for steampunkness.
Take the curse: Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!
Is there an upside to that curse?
Lot's of good stuff.
Thanks for the input! A lot of good ideas to think on.
You're probably right about the mysteries; other than Metal, I can't seem to get any others to fit. I really wish there was some kind of clockwork mystery available. I'll most likely go with Metal unless something else pops out at me.
The Seeker archetype would fit nicely with the concept.
Shameless Bump. Any other thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?
Take the wasting curse and do your best Doc Holiday from Tombstone impersonation. Too much breathing soot and playing with mercury. You move with a slight shake and everyonce in awhile cough into your very gentlemanly hanky. If you want a different option than the metal domain I would go for heavens. Play up the mathmatical savant. Machines speak to you because they are small systems that move and work in imitation of the grand machinery of the universe.
For the love of Iomede do not take Haunted.Lol, not likely. I'm thinking of maybe Tongues (speaking in the language of the machines), or perhaps lame. Sadly, there aren't a lot a lot of curses to choose from.
I end up suggesting tongues whenever someone brings up a science oracle. Either mad scientist boasting, "COWER before my steam-powered creations!", tech-babble, "the homo-goblinus is pulling philosigen from the ether!", or a Yuki Nagato-like quantum muttering.