Oracle / Agent of the Grave Progression Help

[Rynjin]

So, I have just hit level 11 and thus AotG 5 on my JuJu Oracle. This means I've got some choices to make, and I'd like other people's advice on this. I'm not a super good caster player (my current spell list is sucking kinda hard ATM in some places), and want to make sure I don't screw up with an ability I can't fix later.

So, a few questions.

1.) If you could pick any 3 Necromancy spells NOT on the Cleric/Oracle list, what would they be? Any 5-6 (depending on Int boosts at a later date)?

Current candidates: Enervate, Suffocation, Greater False Life. Enervate is a definite (needed for a great many undead with Create Undead), Suffocation I'm pretty fond of, but not sure of Greater False life.

Current future candidates: Wail of the Banshee (to make Banshees, and also because it's awesome), Finger of Death, and Clone.

Though now I think of it, Clone may not be a great option since we'll probably be undead (vampire in my case) by 12th level.

I've only really looked at the Wizard list because that's the only one that's conveniently labeled by School.

Any suggestions?

2.) I want to go for Spell Perfection at 15th. What are the three best Metamagic Feats for a Necromancy focused character?

Current candidates: Quicken, Persistent, and Piercing.

3.) Also about Spell Perfection, what's the best spell to use for it? Enervate (free Quickened Enervates sound delish)? Suffocation? Some later level spell?

[Rynjin]

Nobody?

[andreww]

On spells I would consider the following:

Wail of the banshee is just a fixed damage blast. I am not seeing any reference to it creating banshees. I would however definitely consider Mass Suffocation if you think you will reach that level.

Control Undead, affects more targets than Command Undead and is much higher level so has a better DC. I would still be tempted by Command Undead instead especially as mindless undead gain no save and t lasts ages.

Waves of Exhaustion is not a bad debuff and denies a save.

Magic Jar. This spell allows all sorts of dodgy shenanigans. Especially if you are ending up as a Vampire. This will let you continue to go about during the day.

Enervation. This is OK but without the feat support it had in 3.x it ends up as a relatively small debuff which takes too long to stack up when you could have been throwing something which just kills your target. Personally I don't think it is worth it unless you think you will be meeting a lot of Paladins who you might need to debuff before they will be affected by something else.

Fear. Large area Will save or suck which is not language dependant. Great for an Oracle as much of your other such spells require a common language (Greater Command/Forbid Action).

For metamagic feats you want Quicken and Persistent and one other. If you don't have Spell Penetration then Piercing might be a decent choice. Reach is always good for you as you have a lot of excellent touch spells. Dazing is just generally amazing and you could attach it to mass inflict spells if you wanted to.

Spell Perfection spell is tricky. Generally I find it best to pick a mass removal spell of choice or occasionally a single target one. I have don't it with Stone to Flesh and Plane Shift as well as stuff like Mass Suggestion or Chain Lightning. For a Cleric strong options include:

Flame Strike - apply dazing and ignore elemental immunities
Plane Shift - send your enemies on a very short unpleasant vacation
Mass Inflict x - add dazing to it for will based mass daze
* Word Spells - apply crazy caster level effects to give you an always on +6 to your CL, rising to more with magic items

[Cosmic Dream Lord]

I'll give this a shot.

Ultimately, it's a matter of preference. How concerned are you for your safety?

In my experience, unless you're going to be throwing yourself in the front lines a lot, Greater False Life probably won't be necessary. However, it will save your bacon when that one power attacking ogre somehow sneaks past your horde and then crits you with his +5 Your-Race-Here Bane Ogre Hook. Personally, I would choose it. Suffocation seems redundant when you have your horde beating things up.

Finger of Death isn't worth it. Too many saves, not enough punch. Not sure about Wail.

I think you answered your other questions. As Dove will tell you, Persistent is a load of fun with the right spell (e.g. Plane Shift). Piercing is nice. With an Otherwordly Kimono, it's all you'll ever need to beat SR. For any spellcaster, Quicken is great. Granted, Reach is also worthy of consideration.

Out of all the present options, I think Enervation is a good choice for Spell Perfection. Quickened Piercing Enervation would hit anything that isn't immune like a truck. Plane Shift is also a very nice pick.

[andreww]

It is still only doing 1d4 negative levels. A spell perfected Reach Persistent Plane Shift is using up a level 6 slot and dispatching your enemy to almost certain death.

[Rynjin]

Lessee, a few things in no particular order:

When talking about creating Banshees, it's under the creation rules for Greater Create Undead. You need it (or an assistant who can cast it) to make one. This one's not a huge one, since it doesn't come in until 18th (the campaign will go to 20 though, I'm playing Way of the Wicked), so I may take Mass Suffocation instead.

Enervation is a must, there are 3 undead that require Enervation to create, JuJu Zombies among them. Considering I made a JuJu Oracle just so I could make JuJu Zombies later...yeah not passing that up.

Control Undead I'm not concerned with. I have Command Undead for the occasional hostile undead, and considering the campaign is all about fighting the good guys...not expecting powerful undead to be on any team but mine.

Waves of Exhaustion I was looking at, and it looks neat.

Magic Jar is also one I was thinking about, but I wasn't sure how it interacted with being undead.

Fear I already have, it's a Mystery spell for JuJu Oracles. Got decent mileage out of it so far.

On concern for my safety, not SUPER concerned, but a little extra buffer doesn't hurt. I actually have more HP (by 5) than the Anti-Paladin right now due to adding Cha to HP for the last 5 levels (and a 24 Cha).

Plane Shift I hadn't considered as a good Spell Perfection ability, but it sounds pretty nice, yeah. Tucking that in the back pocket. Can zap people to the Negative Energy Plane.

I don't generally have my horde beating things up. We've been in army combat so I have them beating stuff up on a large scale while the team goes in on surgical strikes. Before that, had problems with mobility indoors (since good undead are Large or larger). Not going to assume my undead will always be on hand besides the pair of bodyguard undead I plan to keep on me at all times

I do have Spell Penetration, so I may just go ahead and pick Reach as my last one.

So, let's see.

Locked in spells to learn: Suffocation, Mass Suffocation, Enervation

Probable future spells: Magic Jar? Waves of Exhaustion?

I have my fill of debuffs currently so I want something with a bit of direct f%#*-you-up oomph, hence Suffocation. Plus it doubles as a debuff if they pass the save.

Think I won't grab Quicken until 13th since all I'd be able to do is Quicken a 1st level spell at this point. So I'm retraining Expanded Arcana (dropping Wind Wall and Locate Object, since I don't really care about Isitoq any more) for Reach Spell, and grabbing Persistent this level.

Persistent Blindness/Deafness or Bestow Curse (I have a Reach rod for that one) could be nasty.