Staple Spells for Oracle's limited Known Spells?

[River Shadow-hand]

Hello all,

I'm not used to playing a Spontaneous caster and I'm a bit used to playing Clerics that have access to all spells known and being able to switch spells in and out daily.

I'm aware that some races FCB allows them to add more spells known but what are some of those really important spells that Oracles should most definitely take?

[AldantheRighteous]

Well, there are versatile spells that any full level spellcasting class would love to have - Dispel magic, Telekinesis, etc. - but it does depend a lot as well on the type of Oracle you want to play and what mystery/curse you have chosen.

[avr]

Blessing of Fervor for one thing - but what sort of oracle are you playing? A battle oracle, a nature oracle summoner, a heavens oracle abusing color spray, a lunar oracle with a lethal pet, or what?

[Just a Mort]

You probably want to get lesser restoration, remove fear, remove sickness, remove paralysis, restoration. Airwalk.

If you're any kind of beatstick/have animal companion, divine favour.

For save of s*ck types, burst of radiance, shadowtrap, soundburst(less useful due to everyone and their dog having high fort save)

[River Shadow-hand]

avr wrote:

Blessing of Fervor for one thing - but what sort of oracle are you playing? A battle oracle, a nature oracle summoner, a heavens oracle abusing color spray, a lunar oracle with a lethal pet, or what?

I'm playing a Bad Touch Oracle, with some Battle/Buffing to keep myself out of danger.

Ascetic Oracle w/ Dual-Curse archetype.

[avr]

OK. A few by level that you might like.

1: Divine Favor, Touch of Bloodletting, Touch of Blindness, Shield of Faith or Protection from Evil.
2: Ironskin (if allowed; not in PFS), Grace, Lesser Restoration, Bull's Strength, maybe Lesser Angelic Aspect if you didn't pick up SoF/PfE.
3: Communal Resist Energy (very useful IME, more so than a single target spell), Channel Vigor, Dispel Magic.
4: Blessing of Fervor, Air Walk, Death Ward, Spit Venom.

Obviously you'll get Ill Omen, Oracle's Burden and Bestow Curse from the archetype. They're all good spells for you, no problem there. You don't have to get all of the above, but they're all worth considering for your character I think.

[Captain Morgan]

Just a Mort wrote:

You probably want to get lesser restoration, remove fear, remove sickness, remove paralysis, restoration. Airwalk.

If you're any kind of beatstick/have animal companion, divine favour.

For save of s*ck types, burst of radiance, shadowtrap, soundburst(less useful due to everyone and their dog having high fort save)

I think using limited spells known on all of those condition removal spells is a mistake. Scrolls and a mnemonic vestment can cover things in that vein.

[Rory]

River Shadow-hand wrote:

what are some of those really important spells that Oracles should most definitely take?

Pages of Spell Knowledge really help to expand spells known. They are pretty cheap for levels 1 and 2 spells too.

Rods of Extend Spell can really help out as well. Get one or a few.

Level 1:

Remove Sickness is a really nice spell. It removes lots of conditions, but more importantly, it is a long last pre-battle spell. It gives +4 saves to lots of effects. I'd recommend a spell slot or at least a Page of Spell Knowledge.

Liberating Command can greatly remove grapple issues the party might come up against. It scales with level so is good for a spell slot or page.

Ant Haul will alleviate all encumbrance issues. If that applies to you, this can be an excellent page spell.

Protection From Evil needs a mention due to the amount of swing that mind controlling one party member can have. You can cover this with scrolls if desired, but be wary of this need.

Level 2:

Lesser Restoration will repair just about all diseases, poisons, and most other stat problems. I'd recommend a spell slot dedicated to this.

Grace is nice to get around on the battlefield in a tight pinch. It's swift action casting time makes it worth a dedicated spell slot, eventually, especially at higher levels.

Delay Poison makes you immune to Poison. It scales with level, so making it a spell slot or page is pretty nice. You could make yourself "perma-immune" to poison as early as level 4 with 3 spell slots and a Lesser Rod of Extend Spell.

Remove Paralysis needs a mention due to the amount of swing that paralyzing one party member can have. You can cover this with scrolls if desired, but be wary of this need.

Level 3:

Communal Resist Energy. So nice. So nice. So nice.

Level 4:

Greater Path of Glory is a very convenient hand wave for party healing after battle. This can get rid of a lot of book-keeping headache (and expense) when using wands of cure light wounds. My level 12 life oracle loves this spell due its extreme simplicity. "I cast Greater Path of Glory so everyone get back 60 hitpoints". I'd not recommend it too early, but eventually.

Level 5:

Breath of Life needs a mention due to the amount of swing that the death of one party member can have. It's hard to cover this with scrolls (Gloves of Storing greatly help). This is easily covered with First Aid Gloves by anyone in the party. It's an excellent, excellent usage of the Mnemonic Vestment scroll approach.

For most other condition curing, rely on scrolls and/or the mnemonic vestment, that day or next day.

[Markov Spiked Chain]

If you're ever going to swing at anything, Fallback Strategy is a great pre-buff option.

[River Shadow-hand]

Great suggestions! What are some of the best Save or Suck spells or Bad Touch spells that should be taken? I'd like to grab a few for Oracular Spellstrike or just plain shutting someone down at range.

Curious on which ones are worth claiming a spell known slot since I don't want to waste precious spell slots and I'll need to spend some spell slots on the spells you guys suggested earlier.

[Louise Bishop]

What Role are you filling?

Buffer?
Healer?
Melee Striker?
Debuffer?
Blaster?
Summoner?

Really your build will dictate which spells will be better use.

What do your feats look like? Do you plan Spell focus of any type?

What is your Mystery?

You taking an archetype? (I like Spirit Guide)

[TheZombiePunch]

Some of my favorites on my Dual Cursed Oracle are Bestow Curse and Blindness. Grab a persistent, lesser metamagic rod if you have a free hand. As soon as I have the gold i'm gonna add Spell Storing to some armor to Bestow Curse anyone that hits me. I second what Captain Morgan said and recommend you get a collection of all the status removals on scrolls and a Mnemonic Vestment so that you can use the scrolls without burning them(1/day) and without using up your precious spells known.

[SorrySleeping]

Sacred Bond and Shield Other are amazing if your meat bag needs tons of healing.

Sanctuary is a fun spell if you have high DCs.

[Firebug]

Wow, even regular path of glory and a skald with lesser celestial totem. I am tempted to restructure my skald now...

[Markov Spiked Chain]

If you're in a home game it looks awesome, but just a heads up: Lesser Celestial Totem isn't PFS legal.

[Firebug]

It's basically everything but rage powers from that book.

Guess I'll have to stick to guarded life, Tor death curse, and totemic skald for my undying tiger.

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

Bestow curse is fairly nasty.

I'd definitely not get condition removal on your list just carry a couple of cheap scrolls around. Unless your DM will go out of his way to punish you for no cleric?

[avr]

River Shadow-hand wrote:

Great suggestions! What are some of the best Save or Suck spells or Bad Touch spells that should be taken? I'd like to grab a few for Oracular Spellstrike or just plain shutting someone down at range.

Curious on which ones are worth claiming a spell known slot since I don't want to waste precious spell slots and I'll need to spend some spell slots on the spells you guys suggested earlier.

Touch of Bloodletting makes enemies exhausted, Will negates, for 1 round/level. That's a fairly nasty condition.

Touch of Blindness makes enemies blind, Fort negates, for 1 round each hit (you get one touch attack/level). If there's a rogue handy this is better than Touch of Bloodletting, if you're fighting alone vice versa. I probably wouldn't get both.

Not technically a touch attack spell, but Instrument of Agony acts a lot like one.

Burst of Radiance isn't a touch spell at all, but it's nearly as good as Glitterdust. That makes it a top-notch save or suck.

Don't forget your dual-cursed archetype spells - they're all decent debuffs.

Spit Venom has the advantage of blinding for a round even on a successful save.

[Taja the Barbarian]

My personal favorites so far (Spirit Guide Heavens Oracle 12 in the Wrath of the Righteous AP)

• 1) Murderous Command - Not even language dependant
• 1) Protection From Evil - always a solid classic
• 2) Boneshaker - Not a fan of the flavor (for this particular character, at least), but it does a lot of damage for a 2nd level spell.
• 2) Burst of Radiance - No save against the damage, so it's a pretty nice if limited AoE
• 2) Grace - Mobility is always nice.
• 2) Recentering Drone - Makes quite a few conditions managable, but requires concentration to maintain.
• 3) Archon's Aura - don't actually have this one, but it looks great for the less chaotic-minded.
• 3) Invisiblity Purge - If your party doesn't have any other means of dealing with invisiblity, this spell is a solid choice: You probably won't cast it too often, but it's priceless when you do need it.
• 3) Magic Circle Against Evil - Take mind control and possession off the table for an entire dungeon crawl.
• 4) Aura of Doom - Keep your enemies shaken.

Obviously, your priorities will be shaped by:

• Your Build - Personally, I'm centered on tossing Holy Smites and other AoEs, so I don't tend to look too closely at touch spells.
• Your group composition - If you have a cleric in the party, that character can probably cover a lot of the 'one off' spells.
• The Campaign - I'm heavy into Holy Smites because this AP is loaded with demons: I don't know if I would have even taken that spell in any other campaign.

.

[Malignor]

My rules-o-thumb for spells-known on spontaneous casters

• The first spell known of a spell level is one that can and will be "spammed". For example, once you reach 4th level, select Spiritual Weapon (have 2 "active" if you can in a fight).
• Spells known must be dependent on your casting stat (CHA), caster level and/or feats. If the spell isn't dependent on these things, then it's just as good if you use a scroll or wand... so get a scroll or wand instead
• Spells known should be ones you will use on a day to day basis. If it's a spell you "may need one day" (like remove blindness), then don't select it. That's what wands and scrolls are for.

Now that these rules are out of the way...

• Spiritual Weapon: force damage bypasses all DR and affects incorporeal beings. It scales nicely with your level. Keep 2 going in a fight.
• Lesser Restoration: Remember that divine casters don't need to rest in order to regain spells. This means you can ignore the need for sleep by casting Lesser Restoration whenever you are fatigued.
• Divine Power: Now you're a warrior class

[Ellioti]

Malignor wrote:

My rules-o-thumb for spells-known on spontaneous casters

I have one more rule. Spells that you need to really cast spontaneously, i.e. no time to draw a scroll.

My favourite is being a half-elf and casting quickened Paragon Surge from a 7th lvl slot. Choose Expanded Arcana and in the same round cast any spell off the cleric list. Take that wizards and clerics! (works only 1/day)

[andreww]

Chromantic Durgon <3 wrote:

Bestow curse is fairly nasty.

I'd definitely not get condition removal on your list just carry a couple of cheap scrolls around. Unless your DM will go out of his way to punish you for no cleric?

That works fine for things like restoration and remove blindness but remove curse, remove disease and neutralise poison all require a caster level check. Mnemonic Vestment can get you some way there as they inherit your caster level but it is once per day full stop. Paragon Surge is probably a better option and you get to use the FCB for more spells known.

Spirit Guide is a great option just because it can bring a lot of condition removal, divination, utility or control spells depending on what you need day to day. Heavens (colour spray, daylight, overland flight), life (lesser resto, resto, neutralise poison, mass heal as 8th!), ancestors (heroism), bones (false life, fear), lore (tongues, locate object, legend lore), slums (charm person, confusion, wall of stone) and wood (barkskin, tree stride) are all excellent choices. My default adventuring spirit choice tends to be ancestors as heroism is a great buff and you can turn all of your Int skills into charisma ones with Wisdom of the Ages (spirit guide turns references to wisdom into charisma).

Choice of curse is also important as lots of them bring extra spells known. Haunted and Blackened were the classic ones for that but Horror Realms has added some excellent additional choices. Shadowbound will give you shadow evocation and shadow conjuration adding a lot of versatility, vampirism gives undead anatomy and vampiric touch, useful for bad touch and combat types, lich gives control undead and undead anatomy amongst others.

I have 5 different PFS Oracles ranging from levels 5 to 16. This is my spell list for the level 15 Lore Oracle with a caster focus (the 16 is an AC using lunar oracle, so quite a bit more fighty). He is a half elf who has used the human FCB for extra spells known every level from 4th and he has one expanded arcana feat. He has eight level 1 pages of spell knowledge and the Heavens spirit for overland flight and see in darkness at 15. The addition of chain lightning isn't bad either as he is set up with greater spell focus evocation (largely for spell perfecting flame strike to use with dazing).

Oracle (Spirit Guide) Spells Known (CL 16th; concentration +28)

7th (5/day)—archon’s trumpet (DC 28), mass cure serious wounds, holy word (DC 28), prismatic spray (DC28), reverse gravity, vision

6th (7/day)—antilife shell, blade barrier (DC 27), chain lightning (DC 27), chains of light (DC 25), mass cure moderate wounds, greater dispel magic, heal, mass owl's wisdom, roaming pit (DC 25), wind walk

5th (8/day)—breath of life (DC 24), contact other plane, mass cure light wounds, flame strike (DC 28), greater forbid action[UM] (DC 24), life bubble[APG] (DC 24), overland flight, plane shift (DC 24), telekinesis, wall of stone

4th (8/day)—anti-incorporeal shell[ACG], blessing of fervor[APG] (DC 23), cure critical wounds, death ward, dismissal (DC 23), freedom of movement, holy smite (DC 25), legend lore, rainbow pattern (DC 23)

3rd (8/day)—borrow fortune[APG], cure serious wounds, daylight, invisibility purge, locate object, magic vestment, paragon surge[ARG], communal resist energy[UC], shield of darkness

2nd (8/day)—burst of radiance (DC 23), cure moderate wounds, delay poison, grace[APG], hypnotic pattern (DC 21), levitate, minor image (DC 21), page-bound epiphany, remove paralysis, sound burst (DC 23), suppress charms and compulsions, tongues

1st (9/day)—ant haul[APG] (DC 20), color spray (DC 20), comprehend languages, cure light wounds, deathwatch, divine favor, forbid action[UM] (DC 20), hide from undead (DC 20), identify, liberating command[UC], murderous command[UM] (DC 20), obscuring mist, protection from evil, remove fear, remove sickness[UM] (DC 20), sanctuary (DC 20), shield of faith, stunning barrier[ACG] (DC 20)

0 (at will)—create water, detect magic, detect poison, ghost sound (DC 19), guidance, light, mage hand, mending, purify food and drink (DC 19), scrivener's chant, stabilize

[Markov Spiked Chain]

At 9th, you might consider Accept Affliction + Cleanse to cover almost all the affliction removal you need in two spells known, without caster level checks except for curses.

[tonyz]

Sound burst - 2nd level AoE save or stun. Plus sonic damage, so seldom resisted. Fort save, so less good against martial types, but usually good against spellcasters.

[Taja the Barbarian]

Markov Spiked Chain wrote:

At 9th, you might consider Accept Affliction + Cleanse to cover almost all the affliction removal you need in two spells known, without caster level checks except for curses.

Oracles don't get 5th level spells like Cleanse until 10th level.

Another thing that should have been mentioned by now is: Remember Metamagic options. In particular, I've become very fond of Intensified Spell (Metamagic) to extend the usefulness of spells like Burst of Radiance (3rd level spell slot gives you an untyped (up to) 10d4 damage AoE in addition to the 'reflex save or be blinded' effect).

Finally, as was mentioned in an earlier post, the Spirit Guide archetype is really strong (adding a second set of Mystery spells is strong, but allowing you to swap that list out every day for a new one is really powerful if you have any idea how the day is going to go). Honestly, for my Heavens oracle, losing Perception and Fly as class skills was the only real drawback, and I used a trait to get Perception back.