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I was considering making a Sylvan sorc with boon companion and, for fluff reasons, a Wolf animal companion. Thus, I made a thread asking for help with building a strong wolf companion. That thread got a lot of great responses that really helped me get ideas for the wolf companion, so now I have decided to make a thread asking for help with the "other half" of team wolfy. While I originally wanted to go Sylvan Sorc, I recently discovered the Lunar Mystery for Oracles and as a result have decided that the Lunar Mystery Oracle would be a far better choice then the sylvan sorc as the brains of team wolfy.
Not only does the lunar mystery have almost perfect fluff for this(they get a lot of abilites connected to lychanthropes.) but also has some major benifits over the sorc. For one, you have cure spells as an Oracle and thus you don't have to rely on others to heal your pet. Low-level healing for wolfy was an issue that came up in the 1st thread and there was basicly no easy sollution to it for the sorc build. However, as an Oracle, I can heal wolfy as soon as level 1, seeing as I get cure spells for free. Also, I can use cure X wands without UMD, which means once the wand becomes the better option I'll be able to use it easier then the sorc ever could.
The main benifit of Lunar Oracle over Sorc, though, is the aasimiar alternate favored class bonus for Oracles. The bonus, normally, is pretty pointless. You get 1/2 to your oracle level for the purposes of 1 revelation each level. In most cases, the extra HP or skill is almost always a better choice then this, however, in the case of the Lunar Oracle it's worth it. Why? Because for a Lunar Oracle, wolfy is gained through a revelation that treats your Oracle level as your druid level to determin wolfy's progression. Thus, with the Aasimmiar favored class bonus apllied to this revelation Wolfy actually levels up FASTER for you then he would for a druid. Thats right. An Aasimar Lunar Oracle's animal companion levels up faster than the most iconic animal-using class. Wrong, I know, but thats the RAW case and thus Oracle is leagues better then Sorc for making the other side of Team Wolfy.
Also, it's worth noting that the Celestial Servant feat for Aasimairs also increases wolfy's effectiveness by giving him DR, Spell Resistance and the Smite evil ability. Smite Evil will be nigh-useless for Wolfy since he has crap for charisma, but at higher levels it may be -somewhat- useful. Spell resistance and DR, however, is totally awesome, and with both Wolfy's defenses will be that much better.
Anyway, since I've settled on Lunar Oracle for the "other half" of team wolfy I now turn to you for tips on how to build the Oracle. I already have some things set in stone (Idelkin Aasimair(for handle animal bonus), Lunar Mystery, 1st level feat will be Celestial Servant.) but the one thing I really want suggestions on is spell selection. On one hand, I will want buffs to make Wolfy stronger. Yet, on the other hand, the Lunar mystery bonus spells have a combination of buffs and debuffs, and thus I feel my best role would be to not only be a buff bot, but also have some debuffs at my disposable and be a sort of "triple threat" who can both stand back to buff and debuff yet also contribute to melee via wolfy and the occasional beastly transformation via the Lunar mystery. I have also considered taking the Dual Cursed Oracle archetype both for the awesome revelations it grants me access to and the fact that the first level mystery spell I get is terrible and in dire need of replacement.
Anyway, thus, I turn to you. What spells would serve my Lunar Oracle best? Is the Dual Cursed archetype worth taking for this character? Any and all ideas and suggestions would be appreciated.
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It's a little bit all over the place, between battlefield control, melee combat and some utility, the moonlight bridge is always useful just like the oracle of heavens and the ability to use true seeing in an area or object will be quite handy later on. With an animal companion tho, you do get the benefit of flanking, which can bump your attack rolls enough to be a decent melee fighter combined with the ability to dump your dexterity for better ac with one of the revelation.
Personally I would go combat with it:
Divine Favor, Bless, Blessing of Fervor etc...are probably the kind of spells that I would bother to have on my known list.
Of course this is just my opinion, you could as easily just go caster with it.
Well you are set to make the strongest character possible in PF (after level 11) provided you are a scion of humanity aasimar. If so Racial Heritage (half-elf) is a must, as it will allow you access to Paragon Surge.
Dual-cursed is pretty much always worth it, as it get you 2 additional revelation as well as 2 excellent revelations to choose from.
Make sure to take Noble Scion (War) at 1st level so that you can add your CHA to initiative and to take Prophetic Armor as your level 3 Revelation so you can add your CHA to AC and Reflex Saves. Celestial Servant is a good choice as you mentioned, just make sure you have room for Racial Heritage, Skill Focus (Any knowledge) and Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) by Level 11 (so your 7, 9th, and 11th feats).
Paragon Surge + Expanded Arcana will get you access to the entire Cleric/Oracle list and at Level 11, Paragon Surge + Improved Eldritch Heritage gets you the entire Wizard/Sorcerer list.
Other good mysteries to take include Form of the Beast (aka Wildshape light), Mantle of Moonlight (Fort save SoL against casters), and Touch of the Moon (you can get some absolutely absurd temp HP from this).
With Paragon Surge you pretty much have all the best buffs and debuffs at your disposal so go nuts. Max your CHA modifier and remember that Circlet of Persuasion will now affect your Initiative and Concentration checks.
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Personally I was looking to go more "caster" then "fighter" with this, using the wolf as my primary melee fighter. I would not shy away from melee, though, but I do not want to focus exclusively on it. I plan on having a 14 for strength, but no more. I want cha-focus as appose to a str-focus, here. For melee for myself I have a revelation that allows me to change into an animal and melee that way, when I want to. As I said, I want to focus more on buffs/debuffs/casting then melee fighting, and contribute to melee primarily through my animal companion. Animal forms will allow me to melee occasionally when I need to later on, but that won't be the focus of my build.
So, with that established, does anybody have any advice for that kind of character?
EDIT: Ninja'ed. Anyway, how does paragon surge get you an -ENTIRE- spell list? From what I understand, you use it to gain the expanded arcana/improved eldritch heritage feat, but those only give you a handful of spells, not an entire list. Do you mean that it -effectively- allows you to get the "entire list" as in you can choose new spells each time you cast paragon surge and thus make that spell essentially become a broken, unlimited version of 3.5e's anyspell? Or is there some obscure ruleing that allows you to get literal access to the entire list?
Also, while it's a great idea, Noble Scion is out of the question for this character as I intend to play them in PF society, where Noble Scion is not legal for play as far as I know. EDIT: nevermind, I was looking at he PrC, not the feat. It MAY be legal, though I have to go get the Inner Sea World guide to be sure. If anybody knows off hand whether or not it is legal for PF society I'd be grateful.