Oracle of the heavens.

[CombatTacos]

Hey guys, I've recently started to think about making an oracle, and Oracle of the Heavens ( Or Oracle of Life ) drew my eye. But I've never really played a spellcaster before. Are Oracle of the Heavens "Good"? and what are they good at, illusions and buffing? Overall I'm looking for an Oracle that has some.. Flavor. Like the Time or Heavens Oracle.

[mplindustries]

CombatTacos wrote:

and what are they good at, illusions and buffing?

Color Spray forever!

[StreamOfTheSky]

Color Spray is basically the reason to play a Heavens Oracle, with the expanded HD affecting. I don't really like that mystery, it has one really awesome trick and the rest is garbage.

Time on the other hand is one of my favorites. A lot of good and interesting revelations, great class skills, and some of the spells gained are very nice. Unfortunately a lot of the first half of the spells aren't very useful....

[Sitri]

I played a heavens oracle for a little while, but like SotS says, they can easily be a one trick pony. I out performed the rest of my party, but I still quickly got bored.

[Sean H]

StreamOfTheSky wrote:

Color Spray is basically the reason to play a Heavens Oracle, with the expanded HD affecting. I don't really like that mystery, it has one really awesome trick and the rest is garbage.

While Color Spray is certainly that revelation's schtick, I wouldn't say the rest is garbage. I played with one who made EXCELLENT use of the levitation and moon bridge powers.

[Pupsocket]

Mantle of Moonlight is the other great revelation. At level 5, you get a touch attack: Cast no spells for the rest of the fight, no save, no SR.

But yeah, if you're taking the Heavens mystery, you need an archetype that grants you access to more revelations. And you might consider the "something something veil something" prestige class to add more pattern spells.

[tomorrow]

While Heavens can be a one-trick pony, they don't have to be.

The bonus skill aren't bad, they have Perception and everyone needs that.

The bonus spells aren't bad either fascination spells, blast spells, daylight, overland flight... not too bad really and more than just Color Spray are somewhat affected by Awesome Display.

The revelations other than Awesome Display are not ground breaking (though a lot of them scream "flavor" - Lure of the Heaven is visually neat, especially past level 5... as is Moonlight Bridge; Guiding Star is actually pretty useful in some campaigns - though not your typical dungeon crawl), but on the flip side, you don't have much reason to use feats on Extra Revelation. Also, you can take archetypes to eat up some of those not-so-great revelation slots. If you're will to give up Perception as a class skill (admittedly ouch, but you can probably take a trait to get it anyway), why not take the Seeker archetype for example? Again, your mystery spells are pretty good, so even if you choose not to span Color Spray all the time, you'll probably get a lot of mileage out of both Seeker Lore and Seeker Magic. And if you're party doesn't have a rogue... well, you've got trapfinding... er... tinkering.

As noted by the prior responders, you can be tempted to spam Color Spray, because its really effective... but that can get old. I'd suggest playing to flavor (being both flashy and mysterious) while using your non-mystery spells known selections for versatility. You have solid debuffer/battlefield control potential with you pattern stuff. Maybe select some spells known that allow you melt face too so you can be a hitter as back-up plan (maybe you have the Blackened Curse - sometimes your flashes are pretty lights, sometimes they're fiery death). And of course, make sure you have spells that give you something to do in situations where you either can't use color spray (immunities, can't get in range, allies are in the way, etc.) or would rather not.

[CombatTacos]

Hm, I like all the responses given. I'll look more into Lore, Time, and Heavens to see what I want. All of them seem awesome and fun to play. I appreciate all the help guys, and if anyone has anything extra to tell me. Lay it on me! Cheers!