Every illusionist dipping Heavens Oracle?

[MyTThor]

If you're any wizard or sorc that intends to use Illusion (pattern) spells, is there any realistic reason other than prejudice against cheese that you wouldn't take a level of Heavens Oracle to get Awesome Display? Heck it even gets you CLW on your spell list and lets you use a wand of it.

I'd say that the RAI of Awesome Display would be to have it only affect the divine spells you cast, not any spell, but they forgot to put that in the book.

[Matrixryu]

Well, Sorcerer bloodline arcanas work on all spells, not just sorcerer spells, so it makes sense for it to work the same way for oracle mystery powers.

Honestly though, dipping a level in oracle means you have to deal with an oracle curse in addition to slowing down your spell progression, so it isn't like the dip is without drawbacks.

[Corlindale]

Yeah, it's a fair trade-off, and it works just like all the similar powers from bloodlines, arcane schools, etc...

You're delaying your entire spell progression by a level to make a small subset of your spells better. Color Spray does become a killer spell for the first many levels, but it still suffers from horrible range and a lot of immune targets. Might be worth it, might not. Scintillating Pattern becomes really awesome in the endgame, though - but once again there's the immunities to deal with.

The oracle curse is not a huge deal, though - you can just take one of the least obtrusive curses.

[LazarX]

I can think of one right away. Most wizards won't make the charisma investment to make it worthwhile. And any illusionist worth his salt isn't going to base his career on one trick.

And the curse that's part of the dip which doesn't get boosted is another discouraging factor.

[Corlindale]

Yeah, another good point. A wizard would never take it - and a sorceror is already behind in spell progression, which will make the oracle level hurt even more.

The curse does progress in power at half speed with the non-oracle levels, though. But I agree that it never really gets good - which is why I'd suggest one with minor drawback and minor bonuses (like Tongues).

[LazarX]

Corlindale wrote:

Yeah, another good point. A wizard would never take it - and a sorceror is already behind in spell progression, which will make the oracle level hurt even more.

The curse does progress in power at half speed with the non-oracle levels, though. But I agree that it never really gets good - which is why I'd suggest one with minor drawback and minor bonuses (like Tongues).

That has another problem. A Wizard with that curse would never be able to cast wizard spells with vocal components in combat.

[Sleet Storm]

Ring of Revelation is easier.

[Mergy]

LazarX wrote:

Corlindale wrote:

Yeah, another good point. A wizard would never take it - and a sorceror is already behind in spell progression, which will make the oracle level hurt even more.

The curse does progress in power at half speed with the non-oracle levels, though. But I agree that it never really gets good - which is why I'd suggest one with minor drawback and minor bonuses (like Tongues).

That has another problem. A Wizard with that curse would never be able to cast wizard spells with vocal components in combat.

If you mean language-dependant spells, then you're right. If you're saying speaking in a different language means you can't cast spells with vocal components, you're dead wrong.

[Skerek]

LazarX wrote:

Corlindale wrote:

Yeah, another good point. A wizard would never take it - and a sorceror is already behind in spell progression, which will make the oracle level hurt even more.

The curse does progress in power at half speed with the non-oracle levels, though. But I agree that it never really gets good - which is why I'd suggest one with minor drawback and minor bonuses (like Tongues).

That has another problem. A Wizard with that curse would never be able to cast wizard spells with vocal components in combat.

Tongues Curse wrote:

This does not interfere with spellcasting