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Any suggestions on making the best healer an Oracle can be? Ability Score, Race, Curse, Mystery, Lvl1 Revelation, Traits, And Feat(s)?
My current build that I'm using in PFS is a Human Clouded Vision Life Oracle. She follows under Calistria and uses her Religion Trait, as well as the Focused Mind trait, with her feats being Endurance and Diehard.
Ability Score:
Str - 10
Dex - 13
Con - 12
Int - 12
Wis - 10
Cha - 17 +2 (racial bonus)
I'm thinking of making her into an Elf or Aasimar with the Haunted Curse(Possessed Archetype), Ancestor mystery, no deity (as on yet), Charming/Skeptic traits, with the Cosmopolitan feat.
Suggestions on spells are fine as well but I don't need much help there.
Are you sure you want to play a deidcated healer?
Are you sure you want to play a deidcated healer?
Personally no, I prefer being a quick paced DPS but this isn't my only character that I use for Organized play, just a side character for this particular trio we made. Any other time I'm a Rogue or a Fighter, plus it's outside my comfort zone so it's a new experience I'd like to try out before tossing aside.
Also since posting this thread I read more into oracles as well as into more threads here and there on Life Mystery builds.
Neuter Human oracle 1
CG medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +0,
Languages Common, Goblin
AC 11, Touch 11, Flat-Footed 10
Health 10 (1HD)
Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +2
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Face 5 ft. Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 12
Special Actions Channel (1d6, DC 14, 4/day),
Oracle: Spells per Day: (0/4/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/ DC:14+spell level)
Spells Known: 0th - Bleed, Create Water, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Stabilize, Mage Hand, Ghost Sound 1st - Protection from Evil, Shield of Faith, Cure Light Wounds
Abilities Str 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 17
Special Qualities Bonus Feat, Bonus Oracle Spell, Haunted, Life Link, Life Mysteries, Orisons, Skilled,
Feats Armor Proficiency, Light, Armor Proficiency, Medium, Extra Revelation, Selective Channeling, Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapon Proficiency
Skills Acrobatics +1, Bluff +3, Climb +1, Diplomacy +3, Disguise +3, Escape Artist +1, Fly +1, Heal +4, Intimidate +3, Knowledge (History) +4, Knowledge (Religion) +4, Linguistics(Goblin) +1, Perform (Untrained) +3, Ride +1, Spellcraft +4, Stealth +1, Swim +1,
Bonus Feat Humans select one extra feat at 1st level.
Bonus Oracle Spell Add one spell known from the sorcerer spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the sorcerer can cast.
Channel (Su) You can unleash a wave of positive energy. You must choose to deal 1d6 points of positive energy damage to undead creatures or to heal living creatures of 1d6 points of damage. Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a DC 14 Will save to halve the damage. You can use this abilty 4 times per day.
Haunted Malevolent spirits follow you wherever you go, causing minor mishaps and strange occurrences (such as unexpected breezes, small objects moving on their own, and faint noises).
Life Link (Su) As a standard action, you may create a bond between yourself and another creature. Each round at the start of your turn, if the bonded creature is wounded for 5 or more hit points below its maximum hit points, it heals 5 hit points and you take 5 hit points of damage. You may have 1 bond(s) active at a time. This bond continues until the bonded creature dies, you die, the distance between you and the other creature exceeds medium range, or you end it as an immediate action (if you have multiple bonds active, you may end as many as you want as part of the same immediate action).
Life Mysteries You draw upon the divine mystery of Life to grant your spells and powers.
*Magical Talent (Open/Close) Either from inborn talent, whimsy of the gods, or obsessive study of strange tomes, you have mastered the use of a cantrip. You may cast Open/Close once per day as a spell-like ability. This spell-like ability is cast at your highest caster level gainst; if you have no caster level, it functions at CL 1st. The spell-like ability's save DC is Charisma-based.
Oracle Spell Level 0
Orisons You can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells. These spells are cast like any other spells, but they are not expended when used and may be used again.
Sacred Conduit Your birth was particularly painful and difficult for your mother, who needed potent divine magic to ensure you survived; your mother may or may not have survived. In any event, the magic infused you from an early age, and you now channel divine energy with greater ease than most. Whenever you channel energy, you gain a +1 trait bonus to the save DC of your channeled energy.
Skilled Humans gain an additional skill rank at first level and one additional rank whenever they gain a level.
*Willing to change/fillers.
I have a feat that also allows me to choose another revelation, I'm willing to change that if there's something better.
I'd not consider rogue "DPS" and as far as healing is not only boring but also insanely ineffective I'd really not focus on healing too much.
I'd not consider rogue "DPS" and as far as healing is not only boring but also insanely ineffective I'd really not focus on healing too much.
Well I'm mostly trying to open doors to higher level heals, they wanted a healer so I opted-in for the job, in our first encounter with this Trio I had to heal them multiple times because they were in the negatives almost after every round. So Heal/Support is something they need (as well as better strategy, and gold for potions). Once we get into 2nd level I'll probably focus mostly on doing damage with my channeling abilities and possibly whip if I choose to stick with my deity Calistria.
How are you going to wield a whip? Whips are really bad weapons for anyone who has no feats to invest (which you dont). You wont be able to deal damage with your channel unless fighting undead and you will notice pretty soon that healing is just not really worth it (and dont forget - other oracle s than life can use healing spells as well)
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Ok, someone needs to jump in here and offer some support.
Life oracles are good healers. One of the best actually. This is because they can do more healing with their actions than most. At higher levels, with the right revelations and feats, you can heal three times in a turn (Quickened heal, quick channel or spell heal (move action) , std. Heal). That's a little far off for you though.
My suggestions are that you take the Fey Foundling feat at 1st level. This will greatly enhance the healing you do to yourself and help mitigate the damage taken from Energy Body. Also, I would make Energy Body my third revelation. The abilities are nice, but your HP will be really low until then and channel heals can easily keep up with party needs for those first few levels (using spells only when really needed).
I hope this helps. :)
Any suggestions on making the best healer an Oracle can be?To what degree do you want to be a healer?
What else do you want to be able to bring to the table?
Do you have a group with which you usually play to help narrow down choices?
Anything for repetition's sake that you would prefer to avoid?
-James
As I said before, they get downed pretty easily and get below 0 in almost every encounter we did in our last game. Plus they have trouble listening and would rather me just stand there and keep them alive while they play whack a mole.
@Choon; Thanks for the tips and suggestions, Energy Body seemed like a cool rev to have though I do't fully understand it's use other than to channel positive energy and work against undead.
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Ok, I have no idea what you're doing with this healer.
Optimized healing (and I'm a big fan of doing it, by the way), is actually about self-healing. Ideally, you're taking damage, because group heals and self heals are more efficient.
For all healers, you start with the Fey Foundling feat, no question. It is required. That means, ideally, you'll be human, so you can also start with Selective Channel. You probably want Extra Revelation at 3rd to kickstart the combo you need.
Your Mystery priority is:
Channel > Life Link > Energy Body
Your first 2nd level spell known is Shield Other.
The basics are:
Life link everyone you can, tanks first.
Shield Other on your main tank.
Split damage with people, and use Channels when you need to heal at least 3 people. Since you're taking a disproportionate amount of the damage, thanks to Life Link, you use Energy Body to heal yourself as a move action for extra healing when necessary.
If you don't play the martyr, you'll miss out on the efficiency of self/group heals, and all the complaints people have like "don't be reactionary" or "never heal in combat" become true.
Aasimar life oracle with dual curse take misfortune and channel energy. Fey Foundling is a must have feat at 1st level, there is no better feat period for a life oracle. Put all your favored class bonuses into extra levels in channel energy and get a phylactery of positive energy when you can. My buddy is playing this build and he does 8d6 channel and gets an extra +16 healing himself at 8th level.
I'm playing a Life Oracle in our home game of Jade Regent, and been having a lot of fun with it. So far, we're up to level ten, and I have a little advice, based on that.
First, revelations. Life Link makes for awesome healing efficiency, particularly when coupled with Channel Energy. Use that whenever you can, especially in the earlier levels - it'll increase the amount you can keep pain down, and thus increase your adventuring day, to an incredible degree. Several of the other revelations can be fun, but none of them come close to the same usefulness until quite high levels; Energy Body, for instance, can be nice for even more action economy, but it can be difficult to know when precisely to use it.
Second, feats. Fey Foundling, as others have pointed out, is neat, but I really don't think it's quite as much of a "must-have" as others seem to. It's good, no question, but it's certainly not "required", like some have said. Me, I say your must-have is gonna be Selective Channeling. I'm betting you know this already, but seriously, healing the enemy too = very bad. Which takes me to...
Third, I would seriously consider getting your Charisma up to 18, dropping Con a point to make it happen. You'll raise the save DC's on your offensive spells, get another Channel a day, exclude another target with Selective Channeling, it's just gold. All of this is pretty obvious, what with being a primary caster and all, but bears mentioning.
Fourth, spells. Don't forget about them and just focus on your revelations - the cleric spell list has some very cool goodies hidden in there, even low level, for those occasions when you feel like you've done enough healing (you'll probably be getting most of your healing done with Channels anyway). Murderous Command in particular (1st level spell) is just fantastic, but don't forget your Summon spells or the Inflict set, all of these can put the hurt on if you feel like it.
All in all, if you're playing a primary healer, you do have to accept that some of your combat effectiveness goes out the window. Other people are going to hurt things better than you, nine times out of ten, because that's not your job. Don't forget that - you are a support class, and anytime you can contribute to DPS, that's a bonus, not your primary consideration. Don't resent having to spend a lot of your time running around keeping people standing, as that's pretty much what you signed on for. That being said, the Life Oracle is good enough at covering the healing that needs doing that you'll probably have plenty of time to help with dealing out the pain.
@_@ Thanks everyone! I'll have to give this a another read later today but for now I must rest, but I appreciate all the build suggestions, it's hard to know what's legal and what isn't do choosing feats and traits is sometimes hard especially when it's banned from one book but not the other.
Also @Jug; I'm in Florida and don't plan on going to an con like events anytime soon for PFS xD
So no worries! I might also take from all these builds so I can have something each of you have suggested while still be viable.
Fey Foundling, as others have pointed out, is neat, but I really don't think it's quite as much of a "must-have" as others seem to. It's good, no question, but it's certainly not "required", like some have said.
Fey Foundling increases the average self healing per die from 3.5 hp to 5.5 hp, it would be foolish not to take it if you're planning on using shield other and life link extensively.
I would take burned and wreaker.
aasimar for the favored class. Your channel at 50% higher level. By level 5 . with quick channel you can heal 8d6 to allies and 8d6+16 to yourself with fey foundling as a full round action. I would bump cha to 20. Then if people are full debuff baddies and buff allies with your spells.
azata blooded gives you a glitter dust oncea day too.
level 1 diplomacy +11 is sweet
Then your oracle burden on a fighter type gives them a -6 to hit with broken gear. Their low will save will make them poor at fighting too. With misfortune you are set.
To everyone suggesting Aasimar over Human, are you proposing that you don't channel in combat for the first two levels, or that you lose out on Fey Foundling?
Human is the only way to start with both Fey Foundling and Selective Channel. I know it sounds awesome to be an Aasimar for the Channel buff, but for what it's worth, I'd rather be one revelation ahead on the combo (thanks to Extra Revelation) with extra spells known (from the Human Favored Class Bonus) than get an extra die or two on channeling in the long run.
Heck, if you're starting at 3rd level or higher, I'd even rather be a Half-Elf that goes for a Celestial Eldritch Heritage for either some extra back up healing (and if your GM allows Eldritch Heritage for a Wildbloodline, then an extra source of channels) or the ability to get any cleric or wizard spell on the spot with Paragon Surge and the Arcane Eldritch Heritage.
Yeah, I'd definitely put Aasimar third on the list for best Life Oracle.
I say get selective channel at 3. You can channel out of combat. You are taking a hit of versatility until level 3. But the 50% higher level channeling makes up for it.
There is a trait that allows 1 more channel a day as well. With a 20 cha an oracle is still powerful spell caster. knocking things with murderous command and such.
I would put oracle on top of the list. At level 1-2 yes it is weaker. But past that you are much more powerfull and the gap keeps growing. With quick channel you can channel twice a round so that 2 extra dice can turn to 4.
Aha, and the advice keeps rolling! Thank you, today we're heading for a homebrew game and I'll try and test her in that to see how effective I can be with these builds.
I'll post results of what I choose overall so I can get any further suggestions depending on what actually happens during the game.
Also would like to note as much as cool as Blackened sounds I don't currently have that book and it'd be difficult to try and reference anything from it related to my character during PFS games. Plus PCGen doesn't have it as a selection either.
Would Lame/Haunted or Lame/Deaf be a good mix for the time being?
Remember that Ifrits gain the same favored class bonus to a revelation that Aasimars do.
One thing IS liked when I played an Oracle of Life was the wasting curse. You're there to keep people alive, not look use Diplomacy. The bonuses and immunities you get are nice to have.
Fey Foundling is a great feat, but some campaigns won;t allow it. There is also the Sandpoint Faithful Trait, which gives one extra HP of healing.
I could deal with dumping dex and maybe int but I'm the only one of the 3 of us who can make checks for Knowledge and those are pretty common in the PFS campaigns, and I was planning on doing the 8/4 in Oracle and Paladin so I'm mainly basing my stats on that build while taking suggestions for traits/feats/revs from other comments.
I'll be trying a few revs out, I can change the character as much as I want until I play it at lvl2 so I'm good for another 2 games until I decide which I'd like to stick with.
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Where are you getting the 120 with a standard action from? you're also assuming both of my channels only hit myself, which would be a stupid circumstance to use them in. If my channels hit all 3 of my Life Linked teammates, I heal for an additional 94.5, or 160.5 total.
I assume that he's saying that a 12th level Oracle can cast the heal spell for 120 points healed at caster level 12...
mplindustries has this pegged for that style of play. It's great, but as for straight healer, Oracle is fine but it's a bit like watching paint dry.
I like the Paladin(hospitaler) using Fey Founding and Lay on Hands, Shield Other. That's a fun way to play and I know mplindustries would agree - plays one too. It's not the MAX healer, though.
Paladin(hospitaler)/4 Oracle(dual cursed)/8 is appealing for the two channel pools, but the Paladin pool is only 1d6. And - you get CHA to saves, immune to...disease I think, martial weapons, use shields and heave armor. I suppose you could cheese it and take swift channel then burn the Paladin pool to heal from the Oracle pool. The bad, you lose a few Spite Evils here and there.
If you take Aasimar you can take the human alternate(scion of humanity) and then burn a feat (Racial Heritage) -- then go with Paragon Surge spell. Sub-optimal but possible.
I like the Paladin(hospitaler) using Fey Founding and Lay on Hands, Shield Other. That's a fun way to play and I know mplindustries would agree - plays one too. It's not the MAX healer, though.
With a couple of channeling feats, a Hospitaler can spend the odd move action to top everyone up a bit, and use the standard action for something else (cast a buff, standard attack, etc...) Oh and quick runner's shirt synergies nicely with Swift Channel.
