I've seen lots of posts about and Oracle of Life going into Holy Vindicator (HV) prestige class. But it seems a more fitting choice for a battle oriented oracle.
I'm curious if anyone has played a Combat focused Oracle such as Battle/Metal/Ancestors/Wood that went into the Holy Vindicator prestige class. If so, your thoughts on it?
If you take Eldritch Heritage (Arcane), Adept Channel and the required channeling feat you can become a Holy Vindicator as early as level 8. If you wanted level 9 spells by 20, you would need to be Oracle 12/HV 8.
Downside:
Lose 3 Mystery spells, 2 Revelations and Final Revelation.
Receive 3 less level 9 spells and 1 less level 8.
Gain spells 1-3 levels behind a cleric.
Lose 3 Feat slots to get prestige class.
8 Levels without favored class bonus.
Upside:
Missing Revelations can be purchased with feats.
8 levels of d10 hit dice.
+2 BAB which gives a fourth attack.
+2 Fort, +1 Ref Saves
Channel as level 17 cleric. (only usable twice a day)
Gain level 18 Familiar.
Holy Vindicator abilities up to level 8 including maximized heal spells, channel smite, and bonuses to AC.
Edited: Add some Downsides and Upsides I forgot.
Adept Channel grants the Channel Energy class feature. It requires a familiar to gain, which is gained from Eldritch Heritage (Arcane).
It would not work. Adept familiar requires summon familiar class feature. EH arcane is not a class feature. It grants a familiar, but not the "summon familiar" ability.
As worded, although interesting, it is, unfortunately, not legal.
Yeah, those kinds of inane subtleties aren't really relevant in PF.
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I'd just dip a level of cleric even if the Adept Channel thing does work[no idea whether or not it does]. Get domains like Growth and Travel, Separatist archetype if you need to, have a few prepareable spell slots lying around for downtime, and get proficiency in another weapon[potentially an exotic one]. It does cost you a CL, so you probably want to take it in place of a Holy Vindicator level, but I think it could be worth it if you have at least an 11Wis. Not necessarily the most optimal, but it saves you 2 feats at least.
It would not work. Adept familiar requires summon familiar class feature. EH arcane is not a class feature. It grants a familiar, but not the "summon familiar" ability.
As worded, although interesting, it is, unfortunately, not legal.Yeah, those kinds of inane subtleties aren't really relevant in PF.
^ Exactly.
And this exact interpretation was already debated here two years ago and judged to be a valid way to purchase Adept Channel.
Either way, I'm more interested in if this makes a stronger combat build than a single class Battle Oracle. Overall it seems to have more gains than losses.
I'd just dip a level of cleric even if the Adept Channel thing does work[no idea whether or not it does]. Get domains like Growth and Travel, Separatist archetype if you need to, have a few prepareable spell slots lying around for downtime, and get proficiency in another weapon[potentially an exotic one]. It does cost you a CL, so you probably want to take it in place of a Holy Vindicator level, but I think it could be worth it if you have at least an 11Wis. Not necessarily the most optimal, but it saves you 2 feats at least.
I had considered that and it has side effects:
- One, it would put you an additional level behind for gaining spells. So you would have to switch to Oracle 13/Cleric 1/HV 6 to keep your level 9 spells and you would lose maximized healing.
- Two, the Eldritch Heritage doesn't give you nothing so its not a completely wasted feat. Several of the familiars can give init or ac bonuses (Greensting Scorpion for +4 init!) so it can really add or stack well with several other combat feats.
- Three, you would lose +2 BAB and the fourth attack.
Overall, it really only seems to save you a single feat since Eldritch Heritage is just as good as improved init. But you lose several fairly nice features as a trade-off.