I'm still fairly new to PFS and have been toying with this character concept for a while and thought PFS might be a great place to try it. I'm going halfling for race and the main class progression is going to be a Flame Oracle with levels of Dawnflower Dervish to start the character off; however, I am not sure whether the bard levels are worth it compared to the loss of the 6th level spells. I'm inclined to say it would be worth the loss, considering I wouldn't have access to 6th level spells until I reach 12th anyway and there isn't much PFS play at 12th level. Now the big question is whether to devote 1 or 2 levels to DD...
The concept is a halfling bard (Dawnflower Dervish) who is selected by Sarenrae to be one of her vessels of divine power due to his devotion to the cause of abolishing slavery. He'd be associated with Liberty's Edge and flavor-wise he would be interested in assisting the Bellflower Network in anyway he can.
So... the build question for class progression is do I go... 2 levels in DD and then 10 in Oracle? Or 1 leve in DD and 11 in Orcale?
Statisics
STR - 10 (After racial)
DEX - 18 (After racial)
CON - 14
INT - 10
WIS - 8
CHA - 16 (After racial)
Now, given that he will be a mixture of melee/blaster (mostly blaster)... do you think I could get away with a 12 in Con to bolster Int up to 13? Dump a point into Int at level 4 and then the rest in Cha?
I haven't decided on any traits yet. And as for feats, I'd thought about Childlike and Pass For Human as interesting thematic choices for being able to pass as an innocent child while assisting with rescuing halfling slaves. The only question I had is that I just don't know how often I would be able to actually use these feats in Society play...
The feat progression I've thought up so far is:
1st - Arcane Strike
3rd - Extra Revelation
5th - Childlike?
7th - Pass For Human?
9th - Glorious Heat
11th - ???
Any suggestions, recommendations, etc would be very welcomed! Especially how such a build would work within Society play.
If you want to be a bard/oracle you could take Shelyn as deity and take the divine expression feat from inner sea gods. This way you can add your oracle level to your bardic performance.
Ohhh. . . I have no idea if that's pfs legal.
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You could try an Evangelist Cleric with the fire domain instead. It fits the flavor, it has sermonic performance wich is a toned down bardic performance and you get acces to the fire domain which only has spells that don't appear on the cleric list.
You could also try a Bard 4/Oracle 4/Mystic Theurge 4, though that might not be the best build.
Also, your background would work better in a sandbox campaign with a GM who builds an adventure around the PCs. In my experience with Pathfinder Society I found it was too railroady for me.
I'd like to stick with oracle due to the revelations, I rather enjoy the Flame mystery revelations. Especially Wings of Fire... good times!
As far as the feats go, I'm thinking I would probably be better off going in a different direction then... Any thoughts on some decent feats for a blaster oracle?
Don't lower Con any. The two classes you're working with are both d8's and you'll need every last scrap of hp. For feats, I'd consider;
Lingering Performance - It'll extend the amount of battle dance you get each day by a significant amount.
Weapon Focus - You're going to have some trouble hitting things due to the double dip in 3/4 BAB classes (basically if you take 1 level of DD then move into oracle, you'll be playing a 1/2 BAB class until level 7)
Normally I'd recommend Piranha Strike but this build will have trouble hitting as it is. Would you also consider Battle Mystery instead of flame? One of the battle revelations grants free weapon focus+scaling benefits
Divine Protection - ACG, it's Divine Grace in a feat, have to be at least level 5 but would really go well with the flavor you've described
Don't lower Con any. The two classes you're working with are both d8's and you'll need every last scrap of hp. For feats, I'd consider;
Lingering Performance - It'll extend the amount of battle dance you get each day by a significant amount.
Weapon Focus - You're going to have some trouble hitting things due to the double dip in 3/4 BAB classes (basically if you take 1 level of DD then move into oracle, you'll be playing a 1/2 BAB class until level 7)
Normally I'd recommend Piranha Strike but this build will have trouble hitting as it is. Would you also consider Battle Mystery instead of flame? One of the battle revelations grants free weapon focus+scaling benefitsDivine Protection - ACG, it's Divine Grace in a feat, have to be at least level 5 but would really go well with the flavor you've described
Unfortunately Lingering Performance doesn't work with Battle Dance (boooooo). Weapon Focus is a good call. Piranha Strike doesn't work with scimitar for PFS rules (which sucks...) And Divine Protection... umm... how did I forget that one?!?!
I'd like sticking with flame mystery as it fits the theme over battle. Also, I'm not planning on using him in melee too much, but blasty type and then scimitar when things go sour.
It'd help things if I re-read things from time to time instead of running from memory. For blasting it's easier:
Spell Focus: Evocation (or your school of choice)
Varisian Tattoo: Same School
Pick your favorite damage spell, grab the trait Magical Lineage selecting that spell.
Linger that spell (or what ever is your favorite +1 metamagic spell). Bzzt. I'd pick fireball. Ignore Burning Magic, it's a trap.
Later buy a rod of elemental meta-magic to swap elements on your fireball.
There more damage possible, but that's the basics.
You can also do this with Burning Hands if you want instant gratification (and an intensified Burning Hands does grant quite a bit of longevity to the spell).
Okay... so what do you guys think about this...
1st - DD
2nd-12th - Oracle
Feats
1st - Arcane Strike
3rd - Extra Revelation
5th - Divine Protection
7th - Spell Focus: Evocation
9th - Intensify Spell
11th - ????
Not sure what to pick up at 11th. Perhaps another Metamagic feat? Varisian tattoo?
Would Intensify really up the bump on Fireball? With the 12th level cap, I'm thinking perhaps Burning Hands may be the way to go with Magical Lineage... Stack Intensify Spell on there for some 10d4 fire damage fun. And perhaps I could pick up Empower Spell... For... What 12d4 at damage cap?
Spell Specialization would be a great feat! I can select Burning Hands at lower levels and then switch it over to fireball when I get to that level. Perhaps I'll drop extra Revelation... Though I just remembered that Divine Protection isn't approved for PFS...
Also any suggestions on which Revelations to take and which to avoid? I like Cinder Dance and Wings of Fire. Not sure which of the others are better than the rest. Also thanks for all the help so far guys!
Hmmm... so are thinking this is a proposed feat list:
1st - Arcane Strike
3rd - Spell Focus: Evocation
5th - Spell Specialization: Burning Hands (7d4 burning hands)
7th - Intensify Spell or Extra Revelation (Not sure which order to do these) / Select Fireball as Spell Specialization
9th - Intensity Spell or Extra Revelation (Not sure which order to do these)
11th - Glorious Heat?
Not sure which order I should take Intensity Spell and Extra Revelation... Intensify Spell won't really do much for Fireball until I hit level 10, but in theory with an Intensified Fireball w/ Spell Specialization I should be doing 14d6 worth of Fireball goodness (10d6 normal cap + 2d6 due to Intensify Spell at level 12 + 2d6 due to Spell Specialization).
I'm thinking perhaps taking Intensify Spell at 9th, because now that I think about it... I can still only boost the spell up to my caster level. With Spell Specialization it would be at 7d4 anyway... and that extra 1d4 damage really isn't going to give me much umph. Plus with the Extra Revelation feat I can select Fire Breath which is a better version of Burning Hands that I will be able to use 2/day at that level...
So I suppose a better feat progression might be...
1st - Arcane Strike
3rd - Spell Focus: Evocation
5th - Spell Specialization (Burning Hands)
7th - Extra Revelation / Spell Spec (Fireball)
9th - Intensify Spell
11th - Glorious Heat (Or perhaps something better that you guys might think of...)
You won't get the 7d4 burning hands until you have Intensified Spell because burning hands normally caps out at 5d4.
Normally yes, but with Spell Specialization feat and selecting Burning Hands, shouldn't it go higher? Or is the spell level cap still in effect, thereby causing Spell Specialization to really only be good for spells that are below the damage cap?
You won't get the 7d4 burning hands until you have Intensified Spell because burning hands normally caps out at 5d4.Normally yes, but with Spell Specialization feat and selecting Burning Hands, shouldn't it go higher? Or is the spell level cap still in effect, thereby causing Spell Specialization to really only be good for spells that are below the damage cap?Spell Specialization, and other abilities that raise your caster level, do not allow you to ignore the inherent cap the spell sets. Intensified Spell does allow you to ignore that cap. Spell Specialization if great for burning hands through level 5, assuming you're getting 2nd-level spell slots to use for an intensified burning hands.
I can't help but wonder if you'd be better off as a straight oracle, maybe with the Blackened curse to add scorching ray and flaming sphere to your list of fire spells.
Okay, so I definitely was misunderstanding that feat... Thanks for clarifying that that, BDJ! I'll have to rethink my feat progression if I don't decide to go straight oracle like you mentioned...