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I want to make a character that makes liberal use raised undead minions over the course of scenarios. I settled on the Bones Mystery Oracle and I'm looking for any potential roadblocks.
I know that at the beginning of each scenario, I'll start with undead raised from previous scenarios, but I'm wondering if as an option I'd be able to purchase an animal, kill it, and raise it (or wait for it to die, and then raise it).
You can't be an evil character in PFS, so obviously I wouldn't be able to do it with purchased slaves.
If I purchased a set of armor and weapons, would I be able to personally outfit skeletons I raise if their own equipment didn't meet my character's standards?
If I take the Resist Life revelation, does that mean I can use inflict wounds spells to heal myself?
Can I use the disguise skill to disguise undead minions as something else?
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If I take the Resist Life revelation, does that mean I can use inflict wounds spells to heal myself?
Yes that is correct, however you will damaged by channeled positive energy that harms and immune to channeled positive energy that heals. Not too bad, just ask any positive energy clerics in your group to be careful.
It doesn't sound like that is the focus of your build, but if you would like a more powerful version of this feature, the 8th level Death domain class feature lets you heal from any type of negative energy while still healing from positive energy.
Animate Dead is very inconsistent as far as its usefulness depending on what creatures are present in the scenario and how creative you are with using your undead minions.
Anything you raise loses all of its class levels. So if you're looking for something beefy and strong, most enemies you encounter in PFS are out the door; you're basically limited to animals, magical beasts, dragons.
But human zombies are still very useful for other things, like triggering traps or carrying things (like a portable altar for instance), or being mobile silence beacons. You just have to be creative, is all.
Well worth the onyx, in my opinion.
You can give your undead weapons but they'll have the weapon proficiencies they had before dying.
Disguise might work, but I suspect GMs might want to assign a penalty of some kind to disguise an undead creature as.. not undead. There's no documented case in the CRB so expect it to be very swingy.
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If I take the Resist Life revelation, does that mean I can use inflict wounds spells to heal myself?Yes that is correct, however you will damaged by channeled positive energy that harms and immune to channeled positive energy that heals. Not too bad, just ask any positive energy clerics in your group to be careful.
It doesn't sound like that is the focus of your build, but if you would like a more powerful version of this feature, the 8th level Death domain class feature lets you heal from any type of negative energy while still healing from positive energy.
Animate Dead is very inconsistent as far as its usefulness depending on what creatures are present in the scenario and how creative you are with using your undead minions.
Anything you raise loses all of its class levels. So if you're looking for something beefy and strong, most enemies you encounter in PFS are out the door; you're basically limited to animals, magical beasts, dragons.
But human zombies are still very useful for other things, like triggering traps or carrying things (like a portable altar for instance), or being mobile silence beacons. You just have to be creative, is all.
Well worth the onyx, in my opinion.
You can give your undead weapons but they'll have the weapon proficiencies they had before dying.
Disguise might work, but I suspect GMs might want to assign a penalty of some kind to disguise an undead creature as.. not undead. There's no documented case in the CRB so expect it to be very swingy.
Would purchasing an animal at the beginning of the scenario, killing it, and raising it remain viable? It'd be more expensive, but the undead animal would still have some punch at higher levels.
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I really don't want to put a damper on your concept, but it might be better just to have a class with an animal companion in that case.
Some GMs may give you an alignment infraction for doing that. Kind of a major problem. But if you can justify it to your GM, then in theory that would work.
EDIT:
The major problem with a build that relies primarily on undead minions is getting reliable access to those minions. Short of the method you suggested, it's really not possible in PFS because of the rule where they expire at the end of the scenario. Unfortunately that's what the Animate Dead spells are balanced around, so it kind of breaks them a bit.
Fortunately your mystery will let you grab an undead minion (and a pretty good one at that) with a revelation so that should alleviate some pain.
I've had success with using undead as a secondary play style.
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Also Keep in mind that your Raise the Dead Mystery means any scaled Zombie/Skeleton you raise is only around for a limited time. My Bones Oracle started out a GM baby (he has 8 con and is dual cursed). Ive played him a few times. He also has resist life. Animate dead.. by the time you get it, dosnt stack up in a combat encounter. My own undead minion barely cuts it sometimes and I really only ever use it in a defensive capacity.
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You might also want to consider the False Focus feat, in order to save a little bit of money; and, eventually, the spell Blood Money.
Also be very aware of your table composition, as some other PCs might have trouble with your PC's modus operandi. Paladins, strongly good-aligned Clerics, and almost any worshipper of Pharasma...
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You might also want to consider the False Focus feat, in order to save a little bit of money; and, eventually, the spell Blood Money.
False Focus requires the ability to cast arcane spells. Otherwise it's a legitimate focus… Also, Blood Money isn't on the Oracle list.
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You might also want to consider the False Focus feat, in order to save a little bit of money; and, eventually, the spell Blood Money.
Also be very aware of your table composition, as some other PCs might have trouble with your PC's modus operandi. Paladins, strongly good-aligned Clerics, and almost any worshipper of Pharasma...
That's why my skill points will be going into bluff and disguise.
And to the others, I'll obviously be investing in various necromancy debuff spells and several other gems on the oracle spell list to wreak havoc while ablative shields of undead distract enemies.
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I have a gnome Oracle of Bones and can attest that when played as a crazy charismatic debuffer the mystery works very well. Sometimes I get lucky and life gives her lem...minions. Command Undead seems weak with its hd limit, but when it works out you can get some really useful minions. E.g I commanded a ghast once and stench was like an always on debuff aura; shadows can completely wreck some scenarios, etc.
You just need to talk to your gm beforehand about fear spells. They need special attention since the various fear states can affect enemy tactics and morale in various ways. Some gm's run them almost like save or dies with the enemies never returning, others have them sit in the next room and wait out the condition.
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hopefully someone can answer this... with the channel energy to command undead.. the feat control undead say the HD of undead is based on cleric leve. Is your Oracle level count for this?
It will say "using your oracle level as your effective cleric level" if it does. It doesn't stack with other channel classes unless it says something like "class level stacks with levels in any other class that grants the channel energy ability."
The command undead feat also requires it to be negative energy.
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I know that at the beginning of each scenario, I'll start with undead raised from previous scenarios, but I'm wondering if as an option I'd be able to purchase an animal, kill it, and raise it (or wait for it to die, and then raise it).
Making sure you saw the response to this comment. Any undead you create expire at the end of the scenario. You will begin every scenario with zero undead minions.
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Yes. This thread is from March 2015.
Blood Money isn't even legal any more. And since then, there's been a clarification on how the Raise The Dead revelation works. Lots of older info here. XD
nice