I'm applying for some campaigns on www.roll20.net, and sometimes it'd be helpful to have a possible character ready at short notice. While some things may need to change depending on DM's char gen rules, I decided to put together a possible PC with a 20pt buy as a potential char. Wanting something that is fairly flexible, but fun to play, I decided on a gnome oracle of flame.
Here is my current build thoughts - any and all advice welcome. I also have a few specific questions:
1) with wis 8 and crossblooded, I'm looking at -3 on Will saves. On the other hand, at L2, I have +4 to Will from classes. Is -3 too much? Should I drop dex in order to raise Wisdom to 10?
2) what feat at L1? I'm tempted to go Toughness or Improved Init. I don't think the other revelations are all that great to be worth going for extra revelation - correct? Any other options I should consider.
3) I only get 1 L1 spell as a crossblooded sorc, castable 4/day. I would love to get something with no somatic components so I can cast in a breastplate, but more important is to pick something that will remain useful as I level. Any ideas? Burning Disarm (2d4+4 dmg)? Grease?
4) Idea would be to blast with fire, or summon/buff and heal when fighting monsters resistant to fire. Is lack of Spell Focus/Spell Pen feats a deal breaker? I'd obviously not choose this character for an AP like WotR or LoF, but I should be ok for a Kingmaker or JR campaign, I'd hope.
Ibn Fazuul - gnome oracle of flame - NG
S8 D14 C14 I14 W8 Ch18
Racial traits: Keen Senses, Academician (knowledge:planes), Pyromaniac, Gift of Tongues, Low Light Vision
Background traits: Magical Knack (oracle), campaign trait?
Skills: perception (max), knowledge:planes (max), heal, spellcraft (max), knowledge:arcana (max), perform (storytelling), sense motive, diplomacy, use magic device
L1: oracle 1 - revelation (Cinder Dance), curse (Blackened), feat:?
L2: crossblooded sorcerer (gold dragon/orc)
L3: oracle 2 - feat: Fire God's Blessing
L4: oracle 3 - revelation (Burning Magic)
L5: oracle 4 - feat: Glorious Heat (caster is L5 due to magical knack?)
L6: oracle 5 -
L7: oracle 6 - feat: extra revelation (Molten Skin)
L8: oracle 7 - revelation (Wings of Flame)
L9: oracle 8 - feat: Quicken Spell
L10: oracle 9 -
L11: oracle 10 - feat: Selective Spell
L12: oracle 11 - revelation (Firestorm)
I do not see why you do not take the standard spell focus (evocation), spell specialization and greater spell focus (evocation) as you intend to be a primary blaster. Maybe couple them with Elemental Spell for the fire resistant enemies.
You really want an even higher charisma as a blaster too. +1 at your DC goes a long way. You can safely drop Con to 12 and Int to 10 (manage your skill point accordingely) in order to start with an 18 in Charisma.
Form of Flame is a nice revelation if you can cast when you use it. I guess that as a sorcerer you already have Eschew Materials, so you can probably cast when transformed. Maybe you need in addition the Deaf curse though in order to make your spells silent. Dual-Cursed is an excellent archetype anyway, both Fortune and Misfortune are great revelations. The Blackened curse does not need to progress too, so the Deaf curse wil give you nice bonuses. Put one point in Linguistics on order to be able to read lips and you are set.
Your will save is way too low, you're likely to be dead, out of order or a danger to your group quickly. XMorsX has some good suggestions.
Leveling up will not increase your Sorc caster level, so you have to look at spells that work well with caster level 1 or at least are unattainable otherwise. I would suggest something like shield.
Why crossblooded anyway? What do you expect that one sorc level to help you?
If you're concerned about spell failure, either
a) choose a spell that does not have somatic components
b) get a rod of still spell
c) get the feat still spell and magical lineage for that spell - so you don't need a level 2 spell for that. But then you can't choose magical knack which is more important for your oracle levels...
Have you considered a with with the elements patron?
You get fire spells, summoning and healing - and more efficient than with this build.
Or an alchemist - particularly good for gnomes with the available favored class option.
Regarding oracle builds for the feat at level 1 improved initiative is the better alternative.
If you really want to go for fire stuff, choose the spell focus feats and add elemental focus on top. There is a wizard blaster guide available on the forums of which many suggestions also apply.
If summoning is to be your alternative focus try to get augment summoning to make your summons stronger. Rod of maximize spell would also help to get the most out of summoning many critters at once.
Thanks for the advice guys!
XMorsX wrote: I do not see why you do not take the standard spell focus (evocation), spell specialization and greater spell focus (evocation) as you intend to be a primary blaster. Maybe couple them with Elemental Spell for the fire resistant enemies. Ouch - a lot of feats, but if that's what it takes to blast stuff then I guess I'll need to rework some feats. I can drop Fire God's Blessing (mostly wanted it to be cheeky and take an orc-only feat that sounded cool, because I could :), and perhaps the Extra Revelation (Molten Skin).
XMorsX wrote: Form of Flame is a nice revelation if you can cast when you use it. I guess that as a sorcerer you already have Eschew Materials, so you can probably cast when transformed. Maybe you need in addition the Deaf curse though in order to make your spells silent. Dual-Cursed is an excellent archetype anyway, both Fortune and Misfortune are great revelations. The Blackened curse does not need to progress too, so the Deaf curse wil give you nice bonuses. Put one point in Linguistics on order to be able to read lips and you are set. I looked at going Dual Cursed, but it knocks out Fireball from my list of mystery spells, which seemed totally unacceptable due to my character concept. Too bad, as the Deaf curse does seems nice. Also, Blackened progressing gives me scorching ray, flaming sphere and delayed blast fireball, which seem like nice blasts to add to an Oracle.
Sangalor wrote: Why crossblooded anyway? What do you expect that one sorc level to help you? It gives me +2 on all dice of damage for fire spells. I thought that a fireball at L8 doing 9d6+18 would be much better than one at 9d6 flat. It also gives access to a whole new category of spell-trigger items without having to bump UMD, darkvision, eschew mats, 3 more cantrips (mage ones at that). I know a level of spells/day and spells/known is a huge price, but I felt that such a large buff to all the fire spells would be worth it for a blaster char. I've read a few guides for blaster wizards, and thought a 1-level dip of crossblooded sorc was SOP.
I agree that a witch can make a great character too. It'd have less HP, no armor and have to memorize spells instead of being a dynamic caster, so a different feel I think. Depending on what the rest of the group had I might be inclined to go with that, or a standard wizard, over this hybrid. I hate stepping on people's toes and crowding a niche, character wise (ie 2nd gnome or dwarf in a group, 2nd int-based arcane caster). I'm mostly trying to work this up as an abstract exercise, to see if I understand Pathfinder char build strats, and your advice has made me realize that I have a few more things to grok. For instance, I thought my +4 will save at L8 (to pick a mid level point) would be ok, compared to the wizard's +6 + wisdom mod, or a fighter's notorious +2 + wisdom. Perhaps I can't get away with dumping wisdom. Again, thanks for the advice!
Sorcerer bloodlines only affect arcane spells, not divine spells like those of an oracle. So that sorcerer level is pretty much useless for you apart from magic item utility...
Just having another arcane caster does not step on anyone's toes imo btw :-)
More important is what kind of caster you want to play. If you prefer spontaneous than don't force prepared on you. Though some cool combination is to take prepared caster and choose preferred spell feats for a number of few spells that you want to always have available. It also works really well with metamagic.
Apart from pure oracle you might want to look at magician bard and add fire spells through your class features. Other casters will love your caster levep performances and wand mastery is great...
How important is healing to you, how much level 9 spells, how much blasting, how much spontaneous casting?
You can almost build anything. For example I once built a fire blasting focused paladin - really cool IMO ;-)
Sangalor wrote: Sorcerer bloodlines only affect arcane spells, not divine spells like those of an oracle. So that sorcerer level is pretty much useless for you apart from magic item utility... This is incorrect, the bloodline abilities apply to all spells cast, not just sorcerer.
FAQ wrote: Sorcerer: Do the bonuses granted from Bloodline Arcana apply to all of the spells cast by the sorcerer, or just those cast from the sorcerer's spell list?
The Bloodline Arcana powers apply to all of the spells cast by characters of that bloodline, not just those cast using the sorcerer's spell slots.
General rule: If a class ability modifies your spellcasting, it applies to your spells from all classes, not just spells from the class that grants the ability. (The exception is if the class ability specifically says it only applies to spells from that class.)
—Jason Bulmahn, 10/21/10
Linky
XMorsX wrote: I do not see why you do not take the standard spell focus (evocation), spell specialization and greater spell focus (evocation) as you intend to be a primary blaster. Maybe couple them with Elemental Spell for the fire resistant enemies.
You really want an even higher charisma as a blaster too. +1 at your DC goes a long way. You can safely drop Con to 12 and Int to 10 (manage your skill point accordingely) in order to start with an 18 in Charisma.
Spell Specialization has a minimum 13 Int requirement.
Fomsie wrote: Sangalor wrote: Sorcerer bloodlines only affect arcane spells, not divine spells like those of an oracle. So that sorcerer level is pretty much useless for you apart from magic item utility... This is incorrect, the bloodline abilities apply to all spells cast, not just sorcerer.
FAQ wrote: Sorcerer: Do the bonuses granted from Bloodline Arcana apply to all of the spells cast by the sorcerer, or just those cast from the sorcerer's spell list?
The Bloodline Arcana powers apply to all of the spells cast by characters of that bloodline, not just those cast using the sorcerer's spell slots.
General rule: If a class ability modifies your spellcasting, it applies to your spells from all classes, not just spells from the class that grants the ability. (The exception is if the class ability specifically says it only applies to spells from that class.)
—Jason Bulmahn, 10/21/10
Linky You're right, I must have mixed it up with another feature :-)
Still I am not sure if it's really worth it in the case of an oracle...
If you want to blast effectively then crossblooded is the only way your damage will reach anything like a reasonable level. Having said that losing a caster level on an oracle is painful given they already have delayed caster progression.
Personally I would go with human or half elf for the extra oracle spells known. Half elf if you are allowed paragon surge.
I would change all of your feats and pick up either intensified spells or empower together with dazing spell. Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus would also be useful as are the Spell Penetration ones. You will need some way of switching out of fire for when you run into fire elementals or devils. Either a rod of elemental spell (cold) or the feat or have some different elemental spells available.
Spell specialisation is not really worth it if you aren't otherwise benefitting much from Int and is difficult to fit in before the metamagics which have a greater impact. For example intensified will add 5d6+10 to your burning hands, empowered will do the same for fireball. Spell Specialisation will always just give you 2d6+4 and will cap.
For traits you also need magical lineage. Ideally try and grab Wayang Spellhunter as well. Both will reduce the metamagic cost for a single spell by 1 (level 3 or lower for spellhunter). For extra silliness grab the seeker archetype. You lose your level 15 revelation but reduce the metamagic penalty for all mystery spells by a further 1.
At 15th level, with spell perfection, you could be throwing Empowered, Intensified, Persistent Quickened Fireballs for 22d6+44 forcing two saves as a swift action using a level 5 spell slot and without using a Rod.
If this is a PFS character and looking at retirement at 12 then you are still looking at Empowered Persistent Fireballs for 15d6+30 forcing two saves from level 5 spell slots at character level 11 or simple empowered fireballs from level 3 slots.
As far as revelations go I would grab form of flame as soon as you can. It is a significant long duration buff to dex, con and natural armour.
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