Advice on a battle oracle

[Grenouillebleue]

Hey everybody,

I'll start playing a battle oracle in a new PF campaign, and wanted to know if my build was ok.

Other players will be a rogue, a fighter (shield user with high AC) and an enchanter.

We rolled our stats and I got 8, 11, 12, 14, 14, 18.

Here's what I came up with:

Human battle Oracle
Curse: Decaying

STR 20
DEX 12
CON 14
INT 8
WIS 11
CHA 14

Feats: Toughness, Extra Revelation
Revelations: Skill at arms, War Sight
Spells known: Bless, Protection against Evil, Cure Light Wounds

Weapon: Greatsword +5, 2d6+7
Armor: Scale (AC 16)

Skills: Perception, Intimidate, Sense Motive, Spellcraft

Any thoughts ?

[Just a Mort]

Uh put your +2 bonus into dex instead of str and run combat reflexes instead of extra revelation, be a half orc, take sacred tattoo for moar saves and ask the gm if traits are allowed in this campaign. If they are, take fates favored and reactionary.

[boring7]

I assume you mean Wasting instead of Decaying?

Looks solid, though the charisma limits your casting growth. Unless every stat increase from levels goes into charisma you'll be unable to cast higher-level spells without external assistance. Most battlecasters don't like having nothing but a piece of cloth between them and losing half their biggest class ability.

Angel-blooded Aasimar gives strength and charisma, and Catfolk, fetchling, and Ifrit offer a +2 to Cha without a minus to strength.

I realize you're going damage first, but you're the only healer, so it's an issue.

[Just a Mort]

If he wanted a healer oracle, he'd go life. If you do a battle oracle its like you're telling the world I want to beat sh*t (or shoot sh*t-now that's a new take) up. Lets put it this way. Your heal heals 1d8+1. Chances that if more then 1 mook hits you, they're going to outheal that 1d8+1.

Even an npc warrior can manage a 1d8+3 if he starts with 14 str(unoptimized as hell) and a longsword, which is more then your puny 1d8+1 heal. Now if you tripped both npc warriors before they could move in range and attack you with a reach weapon, you just saved yourself 2d8+6 potential dmg that you could have taken. Stat increasing items are part of pathfinder. To expect a lv 1 character to have the stats to cast their lv 9 slots without stat boosting items is a joke really.

Besides, lets say evil gm sunders your headband in combat. Well, thats what make whole is for. As for higher lv spells? To beatstick, many of your spells are lvs 4 and below. Ie, blessing of fervor, enlarge person(yes battle oracles get it!), divine favour/divine power, no loss really.

As a battle oracle, you'll probably be too busy bashing peoples heads in then trying to heal people. Which is the way things should be. If your group is that dependent on having a full time healer, then ask them to have a look at their combat tactics, or if your GM is one of those out to kill parties sort - its probably time to look for a new GM.

Also, most campaigns end before you actually see lv 9 spells. Most campaigns, the highest spell you ever see is lv 6. Also ask your gm what levels the campaign goes too.

[avr]

The 14 charisma seems sensible for a guy who needs melee stats. Going human and taking toughness with the bonus feat ... less so. If you really want to be human and to have a few extra hp, dump the extra feat for the dual talent alternate racial trait and add 2 to your Con.

Diplomacy is used a lot more often than intimidate out of combat IME, and you don't have any special means of making use of intimidate in combat. If it's appropriate to your character, fine, just be aware it's not as useful.

With your really high strength it might be good to use a long spear instead of a greatsword (your damage will be more than high enough for first level anyway) and get Battlecry or Battlefield Clarity instead of Skill at Arms. You can always pick up Skill at Arms later, perhaps when you have the cash to buy decent heavy armor.

[Grenouillebleue]

Good points there.

Didn't want to go the reach route, which is why I didn't pick up combat reflexes. I could do it though, just switching dex and con around. However, call me paranoid, but I always liked toughness for extra HP.

However, I'm always concerned about being in a tight spot where my reach would be a hindrance. Like in dungeons, if I cannot take a 5-foot step, I just cannot attack. Sure, I can keep a spare sword, but that's still some action economy down the drain.

I'll probably put all my increases in CHA anyway. As for intimidate vs diplomacy, it's more of a roleplaying thing than a minmax one. I'm big, scarred and wasting away. What's not to like ? :D

[Cap. Darling]

Looks good. I would Pick improved initiative instead of warsigth, there are not that many great revalations in battle. Keep the str High and put the level boosts there cha Can be increased with a headband.

[Magda Luckbender]

Grenouillebleue wrote:

However, I'm always concerned about being in a tight spot where my reach would be a hindrance. Like in dungeons, if I cannot take a 5-foot step, I just cannot attack. Sure, I can keep a spare sword, but that's still some action economy down the drain.

People often worry about this, but it's hardly ever an issue. Think of it this way: without reach you threaten 8 squares; with reach you threaten 16 squares. Do you expect to be more effective in combat when you threaten a bigger area or a smaller area?

Magda usually fights with a reach weapon. While she keeps a variety of other weapons on hand, in case space gets tight, it's come up perhaps 3 times in about 60 adventures. 98% of the time reach weaponry works great, no matter where you are. For the 2% of the time when it doesn't work you have other options. Effective use of a reach weapon can almost double (2x) your damage output. The 98 times when reach gets you extra attacks are more important than the 2 times when you need to draw a different weapon.

While there are ways to threaten both near and far (e.g. spiked armor & a reach weapon), Magda generally chooses not to do so, entirely for roleplaying reasons. She thinks spiked armor is pointy, uncomfortable, and looks silly. Were it an important mechanical issue you can bet she'd be less particular.

[Brad McDowell]

Another option is the race with a natural attack, like Half Orc and the Toothy trait. This also brings back Intimidate as a viable in combat option, and gives you some more weapon choices so you can skip Skill at Arms. Nothing reach though.

[boring7]

Spiked Gauntlet, you're in heavy armor anyway, and that 1 extra punch instead of drop/draw shenanigans is probably worth it.

Hmm...this is probably the dumbest question ever, but if you have a spear and you're fighting a a big ol' monster that's right next to you, it still occupies squares that your reach weapon can hit. So can you still use your spear or is it nothing but punches?

[Magda Luckbender]

That seems to be an area of GM discretion, as the rules are not 100% clear. Most GMs seem to let one attack any cube the creature is in, including upward, but some do not.

After many hundreds of pathfinder battles I've never once seen a fight in which someone was pressed into a corner by a huge thing and had to resort to punches. Magda wears spiked gauntlets (one cold iron, the other silver), but has never needed them because of space considerations. They have occasionally been useful for the silver/cold iron aspect.

I'd argue that it's usually not even worth your time to strike with spiked gauntlets. If there's any way at all to get a two handed weapon into action, do that. If not, just do something creative. It probably takes 3-5 spiked gauntlet punches to equal one solid two handed blow. When a non-brawler is reduced to fisticuffs versus lethal foes you have some serious problems. Sure, wear the spiked gauntlets as an accessory, but if you get much use out of them something is seriously wrong.

Note that a spiked gauntlet does NOT threaten when it is holding a weapon. It's just a convenient close range weapon.

[Just a Mort]

You dont get your 2nd attack until 8, due to medium bab. Till then the number of attacks you get does not change. Free action drop reach weapon. Move action draw morningstar from belt. Standard action hit once. Full round attack? Still involves hitting once only.

And you don't need 20 str. 18 str is fine, put that human +2 into dex or con.