Oracle Advice

[Dr Hiram Temple]

Hello everybody! I'm new around these parts.

So, I'm rolling an Oracle. I'm looking through the class features, I see the Dual Cursed archetype, and I say, "I want that." Fortune and Misfortune seem like incredibly awesome tools for messing around with the fate of my character and everyone around me. So dual cursed it is. I'm planning on taking the Clouded Vision and Lame curses-- an homage to Blind Lame Priests of AoE fame (I'll probably leave Lame as the non-upgrading curse, but that's still up in the air). So, here's where I start to have issues.

What mystery could I go with that best embodies the shear badassery of a holy man that can manipulate fate itself?

At this point, I'm seeing three strong contenders for my mystery: Time, Lore, and Heavens.

-Time is the current frontrunner: manipulating time goes hand-in-hand with manipulating fate, if you ask me. I've also already have some ideas for some fluff for this mystery, some nonsense about how the guy can see the threads of time, which have a habit of clogging up his vision. And besides, who doesn't want MORE rerolls?

-Lore is a close second: being all-knowing is certainly pretty badass. I also like the concept of getting my charisma to AC and Reflex saves; having only three stats that I need to pump seems nice..

-Heavens is the dark horse of the competition. I'm not too keen on the celestial theme, but gaining the ability to constantly float is a delightfully classic sign of divine badassery. (reminds me of Colette from Tales of Symphonia, well, the one cool part about her character...)

I'm also open to other suggestions for mysteries, but PLEASE NOTE: I'm largely picking these mysteries for their thematic awesomeness rather than their powergaming potential. Abilities are important and all, but I'm trying to place character concept first on this one. I'll worry about optimization when it comes to stats, spells, gear, etc.

ON THAT NOTE: given these possible archetype/curse/mystery combos, would I be better off building a battle or a caster oracle? from what I've read it seems like a battle oracle needs to go with one of the battle-oriented mysteries, but I'm afraid that my limited sight will impede my ranged casting too much. so which is preferable in this case?

Thanks!

[Makarion]

I'd go caster - Lame is a really painful problem if you need to get around in melee. Blind is bad enough - don't forget to pick Status as a spell! I play a clouded vision oracle and Status is a lifesaver.

[Mergy]

Lame is, IMO, a melee curse. Speed is very easy to get through other means, and consider that both haste and blessing of fervor will make it a non-issue. Most of the benefits of the curse help a martial character more than a caster as well.

Haunted makes for an amazing caster. Extra spells and very little downside, considering weapons flying out of your hands isn't an issue anyway.

[Arizhel]

Heavens is AMAZING .... Unless you are a Dual Cursed Oracle. The second level spell you give up is Color Spray, the backbone of the Heavens Oracle.

Dark Taprestry is kinda cool, I would look into that. Otherwise for your concept, I think I would take Lore.

Tongues: Your party members need to spend 1 skill rank to learn Celestial. No big deal.

Legalistic: My GM loves this one. He has you make a promise worthy of the abilities granted. Anything less is mocking the source of your oracular powers, and causes you to suffer as if you had broken the promise. No promising to tie shoes left over right, for example. Great curse if you like to RP, horrible curse otherwise. (well, if you never have to bother with promises, great curse because it is pointless.) Your mileage may vary, talk to GM about this one. I like it!

Haunted: Some great utility and all you have to do it take a little longer to get your toys out. Not like you are melee and need to draw a weapon every combat. . .

Blackened: Blast, which is kinda bad, Fire blast on top of that (fire was, and to the best of my knowledge still is) the most common resistance. -4 to attack rolls, but if you are a dedicated caster, how often will you be making attack rolls? Worst of the three by far.

Wolfscarred: In superstitious areas, people might try to kill you on sight believing you to be lycanthrope. Ick. 20% spell failure for spells with Verbal. This is best taken with Deaf.

Deaf: Can apply silent spell for free to any and all spells you cast! Woot! Way to eliminate the Wolfscarred non RP drawback. You will suck at perception rolls, and auto fail all perception based on hearing.