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Hello all. After playing nearly all martial characters with the exceptions of an Alchemist and Kineticist, I've decided it is time to try something outside my comfort zone and try a full spell casting class. This is intended for PFS.
I was inspired to do so when I read a certain pre-gen character from a scenario I recently played:
and so I have an idea for an Oracle of the Dark Tapestry. Looking from the mind melting aspect of it, it seems you can make your opponent have a really bad day (for things that have minds anyway). Reading other threads about the Dark Tapestry Mystery and looking at the offerings of the mystery I've determined a few things.
1. The Dual Cursed archetype seems to go well with Dark tapestry Mystery. While the 3 spells gained from the Dark Tapestry Mystery definitely have utility use (Tongues especially) I prefer the more pro-active spells the Dual Cursed archetype gets.
2. Haunted seems to be the way to go for the second curse, unless I'm missing something.
3. Eldritch Heritage! Taking the Arcane Bloodline would open up a familiar can I can have being a little nuisance going around using a wand of Ill-Omen to harass enemies. I'm thinking of Improved Familiar and using a Pooka( if it is legal). Open to suggestions.
4. Due to the above, conventional wisdom would dictate a Half-Elf would be correct race for going this route, however the character concept I have in mind calls for a Tiefling. Any good options there?
5. This character would be heavily into "Save or Suck" spells, so giving myself higher DC's would be key. Misfortune and Ill-Omen help a little in that area though...I think. I have considered a dip into Mesmerist to gain Charisma to Will saves as well as penalizing my target's Will save via Hypnotic Stare. However, the lost in spell casting progression is always a deterrent. Thoughts? Are there other ways to mess with my target's saves?
6. Revelations- reading from another thread it I think my initial Revelation progression will go:
1st Misfortune 3rd Cloak of Darkness 5th Fortune 7th Gift of Madness OR Wings of Darkness
Other notes and question(s)
The Cloak of Shadows concept stood out to me as basically a free mage armor that increases AC over time. Also, I envisioned the character to have Spawn-like cape made of shadowy tendrils and thought that would be awesome for the character concept.
At what point am I trying to do too much? Maybe Dual Cursed isn't the way to go?
What other revelations from Dark Tapestry are worthwhile in your opinion?
How much should I diversify my spells? The character concept I have doesn't really call for buffing spells, but I won't rule them out either.
First, take a look at murderous command. It lets you make one enemy attack another enemy (if the first enemy fails a Will save).
Can you use Variant Multi-Classing?
Will you be using the Extra Revelation feat a lot?
For spells, try to have at least one that targets all three saving throw types. That way, you can cast a Reflex save against an enemy cleric, or Fort against a rogue, or Will against an alchemist.
Dual Cursed is really good, since from the start you can cripple an enemy's saving throw with Misfortune. Then you can take Magical Lineage: Ill Omen and Quicken Spell to cast Ill Omen as a level 4 swift-action spell, which is hilariously powerful.
Murderous command is hilarious when it succeesds. Once had a hill giant crit his friends head in. With their chaotic evil nature (and low intelligence) the other hill giants did not even wonder why he did that :D
Dark Tapestry is great! Especially with Dual Cursed. Here are some specific tips:
- Replace Cloak of Darkness with Many Forms. Lots of niche use on Many Forms. Cloak of Darkness should wait until at least level 7 (as an extra revelation, because Wings should he nabbed as early as possible.) the main advantage the cloak has is avoiding armor check penalties, which won't be important for you until you start flying. I guarantee Many Forms will be better for sneaking into places than that stealth bonus. Also, you should confirm with your DM if you can cast magic vestment on your cloak of darkness, because otherwise normal armor scaling might be stronger.
The other reason to delay it is duration. You want to try and walk into every combat with the Cloak already up, because it takes a standard action to activate which means you aren't slinging spells. Running out of Cloak means you basically have to carry armor as back up, which raises the question of why not wear armor. 7-8 hours of cloak seems like plenty for most adventure purposes, as long your dm doesn't like ambushes while you sleep or something. Cloak can save you money though, so I understand getting it earlier.
Wear a buckler for some extra AC. I'm assuming you don't want to two hand a weapon because casting is your priority.
I'd consider trading out dark vision if it comes with your racial package, because the dark vision revelation is better being able to eventually Pierce Deeper Darkness is a powerful control tool.
Oracles can make great use of the Summon Monster spells. The tactical benefits of summons are numerous, but if you go down this road, have your favorite summons stats pre-printed to avoid slowing the game down.
Actually if you have the Blood of Fiends book then Tiefling won't be a hit to your caster stat, as Demon-Spawn, Div-Spawn, Kyton-Spawn, and Rakshasa-Spawn all give a Char bonus.
Heck, you can do 95% of the "Reach Cleric" thing without having to actually spend feats on it. It's a good back-up tactic when your spells aren't being effective.