So i'm looking into making an oracle but i'm trying to figure out some finer points of it.
So right now I'm looking at making an Oracle with the Life mystery and the Wrecking Mysticism curse, so I'll also need to be a Kitsune for it.
The general idea is to pick up some healing via the life mystery and ignore the mystery spells as they're already available on the oracle spell list and instead get magical tail via the curse to get all the 2/day SLA.
The plan then was to either keep with oracle or go into Arcane savant later (as it doesn't need you to be an arcane caster) and grab some arcane spells later on and possibly buff the UMD skill as I imagine to expand my spell capabilities and grabbing UMD for scrolls.
This campaign the character is being made for is also starting at 8th level.
So i guess my two questions are:
1. Does this seem like a viable build? It seemed like a neat way to get access to stuff not normally available to the class and a way for magical tail to be a real option without eating all my feats.
2. What kind of weapon should I use? 3/4 BAB class so options are available, and oddly enough Kitsune's FCB is reducing the penalty by 1 for any weapon, meaning by level 4 I can wield whatever weapon I want that I chose for the bonus.
As kitsune takes a str penalty but gets a dex bonus I was thinking either bow/crossbow/or a Elven Branched Spear(for a finessable reach weapon). I thought about firearm but that seems like a bad idea unless I dip into gunslinger to make it not terrible (and take an archetype that allows for a charisma based grit pool).
1. Yeah, this is a 9 level caster we are talking about. You could focus on only having spells that are only topical to the American political discourse and still be relevant.
2. You do know that Bows use Strength for damage and apply a penalty if you have a low STR score too, right? They are a non-option for you unless you take STR to neutral.
In any case, I'd say Repeating Crossbow is a good option, as well as the Elven Branched Spear... but not something you should look into specializing. Just keep the Spear to flank if your melee members need it, and the Repeating Crossbow to shoot if needed as well.
1. Yeah, this is a 9 level caster we are talking about. You could focus on only having spells that are only topical to the American political discourse and still be relevant.
2. You do know that Bows use Strength for damage and apply a penalty if you have a low STR score too, right? They are a non-option for you unless you take STR to neutral.
In any case, I'd say Repeating Crossbow is a good option, as well as the Elven Branched Spear... but not something you should look into specializing. Just keep the Spear to flank if your melee members need it, and the Repeating Crossbow to shoot if needed as well.
Yeah i'm not looking to make the weapon the focus, just a backup/alternative if I want to conserve spells or am out of spells which is why i'm looking at my options.
If you're not taking an Archetype, I'd definitely consider either Dual Cursed or Spirit Guide. Probably Spirit Guide here. That would let you take Lore, Life, or Battle as your wandering Spirit. You'd be trading away your 3rd and 7th revelations for a Hex and a Spirit Ability. Life would probably pick up Life Link as a Hex instead of a revelation, and then get a second pool of channels, basically doubling your channels/day. This is an even trade with taking Life Link and Channel Energy as revelations, but allows you to take Channel Energy twice, expand your spells some, and get some flexibility with other spirits or Hexes.
Wouldn't the 2nd channel pool be weaker though? " and she switches Wisdom for Charisma and vice versa for the purpose of determining the hex's effects."
As the Life wandering spirit channel is 1+charisma the archetype would swap it to 1+Wisdom times per day. Unless i'm misinterpreting the archetype.
Also is there a benefit to getting life link as a hex instead of a revelation or is it just because that's an overlap so the lost revelation isn't that big?
I'd forgotten they'd added that clause about Wis<->Cha. You'd want to talk with your GM. As written, that only applies to Hexes, and Spirit Ability isn't a hex, so you'd still use Cha. But your GM might disagree.
Yeah, I was mostly using Life Link as an example where you're at least making an even trade for day-to-day stuff. At worst, you're trading two revelations you would have taken (Life Link and Channel Energy) for direct equivalents (assuming you get the full complement of channels.) But you still gain the option of doubling your channel power, or taking other spirits. You've got a lot of hexes available if you need something specific for a day or two.
The Shaman writeup is also vague on whether the "generic" hexes are available from your spirit for you to take with Spirit Guide. If they are, then you effectively pick up Craft Wondrous Items free during downtime, and some nice debuff options.
You're right the line only applies to hexes so it looks like things are good. That's quite silly then.
I think it's overkill. I'd rather having the other cool stuff from the Life Mystery than skimping on revelations. It's not all about healing.
Why do you want to focus on healing? If the reason is to be really great at healing, instead of a RP reason, then I suggest choosing another mystery. I am currently playing a nature oracle who started at 1st and recently made 9th level. Simply having all of the cure spells and a spontaneous caster's number of spells per day covers the healing duties pretty well. Choose the healing mystery if you really want to, but don't do it just because you think you need to.
If you are considering a weapon, I recommend a Str of 12+ and using a morning star. Use the FCB for HP or skills, unless you are planning on making combat a focus. I suppose a longbow wouldn't be terrible though.
How viable would the lore spirit for the spirit guide be for the Arcane Enlightenment ability?
Its extremely mental stat dependent so I would need to also focus on int just to be able to have access to higher level arcane spells. Or would it just be better to long term go for arcane savant and pick up the spells that way?