Okay, my last thread evolved so much over the course of 40-some posts that I was asking entirely new questions by the end, so it's probably best that I start over.
I am likely to be the only divine support in a fairly large party soon (finesse fighter, standard monk, two-weapon barbarian, me(battle oracle), archer ranger, sling-and-buff bard, going-away life oracle, wizard necromancer), so I'm trying to figure out a way to:
1. Play to the strengths of a battle oracle.
2. Compensate for my slow movement speed.
3. Always have something to do.
Probably the best way I've heard so far to do this is to cast Enlarge Person and have a reach weapon, so I can potentially stab at the front line while both protecting the casters (via Combat Reflexes) and being back far enough to heal those who need healing without provoking.
Considering I have a free Skill Focus as a half-elf, I'm strongly pondering picking up Eldritch Heritage to enhance this position. Problem is, what should I get?
1. Abyssal and Orc seem like the standard choices for a warrior-type considering their Strength bonuses, but the prereqs of Survival and Knowledge:Planes aren't the best choices for me, and the fluff is awkward for a good-type.
2. Arcane might be fun, if only to have a familiar running around delivering the touch healing spells instead of me, and a Silvanshee with Lay on Hands would certainly enhance that, though I'd be sad that I couldn't add the wizard spells.
3. The third-party bloodline Giant seems intriguing, as the Powerful Build thing would be nice for battlefield control, and the increased damage for throwing would allow me to always be useful.
Are there any others I should be considering to enhance my role?
Half-Elf Battle Oracle (Lame Curse)
Dice Roll
19 STR (+2 Racial)
14 DEX
15 CON
13 INT
11 WIS
16 CHA
Feats/Revelations
Level 1 - Skill Focus: ? OR EWP: ?, Combat Reflexes/Skill at Arms
Level 3 - ?/War Sight
Level 5 - ?
Level 7 - Extra Revelation, (Improved Trip free)/Maneuver Mastery, Battlefield Clarity
Level 9 - Extra Revelation /Combat Healer
Level 11 - Bolstered Resilience, (Greater Trip free)/Iron Skin
Level 13 - Quicken Spell
Level 14 on - ?
1. Play to the strengths of a battle oracle.
2. Compensate for my slow movement speed.
3. Always have something to do.
- Make it clear to the other players (and their PCs) that you're not the healbutch.
- Get a mount.
- Always something to do in battle? Or outside of combat? For the former: get a ranged weapon. For the latter: get a hobby. Like crafting.
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I still think your best bet is talking to your DM about replacing the Lame curse. You're really focused on melee combat and you are going to have a hard time acting as the primary divine caster with your build.
Can't you pick up Channel 1x a day using Eldritch Heritage for Celestial? That's the best shot I see for covering divine unless you want to dip into cleric.
Make it clear to the other players (and their PCs) that you're not the healbutch. Get a mount. Always something to do in battle? Or outside of combat? For the former: get a ranged weapon. For the latter: get a hobby. Like crafting.[/list]
1. Agreed, though it will be harder considering we have a Life Oracle DMPC whose job is basically healbutch, whose job I'll likely have to fill.
2. How do you make a mount work for a Medium creature in most scenes, especially indoors or underground? A wolf or riding dog for a Small character, sometimes, but a horse or something?3. How do I effectively combine a ranged weapon with my enlarge person/combat reflexes thing? Strength bow is always my first thought, but without Quick Draw, I'm not going to be able to stop anyone who breaks through the front lines in time. As for out of combat, I'm maxing Diplomacy to share face duties with the bard.
Abberant's long limbs are nice for oracles, as many buff spells are touch, and it goes nicely with your reach weapon style. Orc turns you into a killing machine if you take the whole chain of feats
Abberant's long limbs are nice for oracles, as many buff spells are touch, and it goes nicely with your reach weapon style. Orc turns you into a killing machine if you take the whole chain of feats
Yeah, I can certainly see some synching of my desired playstyle with Aberrant. Orc, however...what do you do with that one round touch buff that you have to take to get to the Strength bonus?
Abyssal provides that same strength bonus. one of your ancestors could be a demon who sought redemption (if good) or you could worship the god of war and be a bloodthirsty chaotic neutral psychopath.
Step 1: re-align to any Neutral
Step 2: wand of Infernal Healing
Out of combat healing accomplished.
Just make sure to take the quick-heal Revelation (cant recall right now), and force the party to invest in a rod of quicken (lesser). Make them come to you for any in-combat healing, and you can spend swift actions to heal and the rest of your turn other things. Then you're free to focus on everything else.
I still think your best bet is talking to your DM about replacing the Lame curse. You're really focused on melee combat and you are going to have a hard time acting as the primary divine caster with your build.
Can't you pick up Channel 1x a day using Eldritch Heritage for Celestial? That's the best shot I see for covering divine unless you want to dip into cleric.
I don't really understand what you're suggesting with your first two sentences. Are you rejecting the caster/mid-range premise altogether, and saying that I should embrace the front-liner side via removing the Lame curse, or are you saying that removing the Lame curse is desirable with my desired build despite your reservations about its efficacy?
The Celestial Bloodline has a channeling-lite ability that brings down 1d4+1/2 points 3+CHA mod times/day that can be used to either heal a single ally or harm a foe, for a cost of two feats and a standard action. If I was going down that road, I'd rather pay three feats to get a Silvanshee who could Lay on Hands with his own actions and leave me out of the in-combat healing. Even a regular familiar could deliver swift-action heal spells via the Combat Healer revelation. I'm not trying to become a healbot, just make sure our Divine casting angles are covered. Any suggestions on how to become better in that regard?
Step 1: re-align to any Neutral
Step 2: wand of Infernal HealingOut of combat healing accomplished.
Just make sure to take the quick-heal Revelation (cant recall right now), and force the party to invest in a rod of quicken (lesser). Make them come to you for any in-combat healing, and you can spend swift actions to heal and the rest of your turn other things. Then you're free to focus on everything else.
I'm probably not going to go the neutral/infernal healing route with this character (though it'd sync with the evil outsider-themed bloodlines very well!). But I really like the idea of getting the group to pitch in on a rod of lesser quicken in order to get in-combat healing. Getting them to invest in a rod of reach might also be useful instead of them having to withdraw from combat to get a heal. Are rods small enough to fit into a spring-loaded wrist sheath?
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I still think your best bet is talking to your DM about replacing the Lame curse. You're really focused on melee combat and you are going to have a hard time acting as the primary divine caster with your build.I don't really understand what you're suggesting with your first two sentences. Are you rejecting the caster/mid-range premise altogether, and saying that I should embrace the front-liner side via removing the Lame curse, or are you saying that removing the Lame curse is desirable with my desired build despite your reservations about its efficacy?
The easiest thing to change in your build is replacing the Lame curse with Tongues. Your original idea was to offset the Lame curse through barbarian levels. IMO, you should see whether eliminating Lame is a possibility before exploring your other options.
lame curse and barbarians go hand in hand. its a good choice if you plan on taking more then a few levels of barbarian.
If the curse switch is an option i vote tongues or even clouded vision and take 2 levels of paladin..
There's also the opportunistic gambler trait that can make it last longer....the orc ability that is.
surprising charge (you're likely in heavy armor anyway... wtf is 20' going to do) are...
I don't disagree with most of what you said, but surprising charge is a nice revelation. I've seen it used to get a full attack off instead of a single attack. I've seen it used to get in front of the party with a polearm or tank build, making the enemies need to come through and draw OAs. I've seen it used to get out of AoEs, which is especially nice versus things like stinking cloud, solid fog etc that can eat multiple turns.
There is a reason PFS banned a shirt that had a similar function. That and getting 10 of them...
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I would suggest considering Dual Curse Oracle and switching your curses to Haunted and Tongues. Choose Tongues to not progress and make sure your allies spend 1 skill point on linguistics and choose the language you will speak in combat.
Dual Curse Oracle gives you 2 more revelations and also gives you Misfortune and Fortune... 2 great revelations. Get Misfortune as early as possible and use it on enemies, allies, and yourself 1 time per day. The name is a bit misleading because it allows you to force any creature within 30 feet reroll once per day. No save and no spell resistance.
Fortune is probably better later on to give yourself multiple rerolls. Dual Curse also adds Ill Omen to your spells known at level 2. Between Ill Omen and Misfortune you'll feel a bit like a witch. And you'll have plenty to do in and out of combat.
Lame is tough if you're going to be in melee.
For Eldritch Heritage, it's hard to go wrong with arcane...
Eldritch Heritage: Arcane. Paragon Surge. Use the feat gained from Paragon Surge for Improved Eldritch Heritage. Hello to temporarily having access to any sorc/wizard spell.
Wow... just wow.
Would love to see Zro4u post his battle Oracle build.