TL;DR: I'm trying to build an oracle that is decently capable in melee, and debuffing, but which also has the option of doing a bit of blasting, gather information, transportation, torment his opponents with SoS spells... etc. As such, I'm wondering if there's any gems that I've missed, or that would come recommended by the board. If you're wondering about my planned build, it can also be found in a spoiler at the bottom. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Also note that this is NOT for PFS, so don't worry about any such limitations.
Create Water (L1), Detect Fiendish Presence (L2), Detect Magic (L1), Detect Poison (L4), Ghost Sound** (L1), Light (L1), Mending (L8), Read Magic (L6), Scrivener's Chant (L10), Spark (L1)
Level 1:
Abadar's Truthtelling (L5), Barbed Chains (L4), Burning Hands* (L2), Divine Favour (L1), Ears of the City (L3), Faerie Fire** (L1), Obscuring Mist (L1), Protection from Evil (L5), Sure Casting (L7)
Level 2:
Admonishing Ray (L7), Cloud of Seasickness (L4), Glitterdust** (L5), Ironskin (L5), Minor Image** (L5), Resist Energy* (L4), Shackle (L6), Silence (L11), Soothing Word (L7), Tears to Wine (L9)
Level 3:
Channel Vigor (L6), Dispel Magic (L7), Fireball* (L6), Paragon Surge (L8), Silverlight (L9), Stone Shape (L9), Wind Wall (L11)
Level 4:
Anti-Incorporeal Shell (L13), Blessing of Fervor (L9), Freedom of Movement (L11), Hallucinogenic Smoke (L8), Planar Adaption (L11), Sending (L10), Wall of Fire* (L8)
Level 5:
Breath of Life (L15), Confusion** (L10), Hunter's Blessing (L12), Plane Shift (L11), Scrying (L13), Summon Monster V* (L10), True Seeing (L13), Wall of Stone (L10)
Level 6:
Antilife Shell (L15), Chains of Light (L12), Eaglesoul (L14), Fire Seeds* (L12), Heal (L15), Wind Walk (L13)
Level 7:
Bestow Grace of the Champion (L17), Control Weather (L14), Ethereal Jaunt (L15), Fire Storm* (L14), Project Image** (L15), Signifier’s Rally (L17), Waves of Ecstasy (L16)
Level 8:
Euphoric Tranquility (L16), Frightful Aspect (L17), Incendiary Cloud* (L16), Summon Monster VIII (L18), Spellscar (L19) ??? (L20)
Level 9:
Astral Projection (L20), Fiery Body* (L18), Greater Create Demiplane (L19), Miracle (L18)
* = Mystery spell, ** = Curse spell
Rationale for spell selection:
# Obscuring Mist and Cloud of Seasickness might be overlapping in its main effect (fog), but since Cloud of Seasickness is practically the only clerical fog spell that is not centered on the caster, I find that it has more strategic value in not giving away your position based on where the fog is. The debuff aspect of it is more of an afterthought, though it is certainly also nice.
# Burst of Radiance is nowhere to be found. I figure that Glitterdust and Fireball together can fill the duty of either an AoE damage, or blind. Further, Glitterdust makes Invisibility Purge less necessary, freeing up a 3rd level slot, and since I'm planning on picking up Shackle as a 2nd level reflex SoS spell, having another that targets reflex at that level seems like a bit of a waste.
# Heal is severely delayed due to getting wannabe Lay on Hands off the Pei Zin Practitioner archetype. For the same reason is Soothing Word picked up at level 7, as it works well together with the Master Healing Technique ability received at that level.
# Paragon Surge is picked up at level 8, rather than at 6-7, simply because I figure that it'll be much easier to burn 3rd level spell slots for niche access when you have 4th level spells available.
Questions:
# Silverlight versus Daylight - is it worth it? I know that Daylight is somewhat situational (even though when you need it, it's pretty clutch) - so I want to have a way to avoid being blinded in darkness, that's not necessarily gear dependent. (though, an Ioun Stone with Heightened Continual Flame certainly doesn't seem out of place either). Silverlight seems like a sort of toned-down Daylight, but with an additional potential debuff effect, so I wonder if it would be worth the decrease in both duration and area. Thoughts?
# Chain of Perdition - I'm thinking of picking it up to fit in with the chain theme (Barbed Chains, Shackle, Chains of Light), but at what point would doing so be a good idea? I'd imagine it'd be increasingly more outscaled over the course of levels.
# Dealing with incorporeals - what would be the best way of doing so?
# Are there any actually half-way decent 8th level cleric spells? I'm contemplating picking up Racial Heritage: Catfolk just to ensure access to Nine Lives...
# What have I missed?
20 PB, Kindred-Raised Half-Elf (+2 Cha, +2 Strength)
Pai Zin Practitioner Oracle with the Flame mystery, and the Pranked curse (from Legacy of the First World)
18 / 12 / 14 / 7 / 10 / 17 (level-ups go into Charisma)
Traits:
Ancestral Weapon (Silver)
Fate's Favored
Feats:
L1: Fey Foundling
L3: Heavy Armor Proficiency
L5: Power Attack
L7: Extra Revelation: Wings of Fire (retrain to Intensified Spell at L11)
L9: Quicken Spell
L11: Divine Interference
L13: Dazing Spell
L15: Spell Perfection
Revelations:
R3: Gaze of Flames
R7 / R11: Wings of Fire
Daylight > silverlight. They both have very situational debuffs (vs. creatures with light sensitivity/blindness or similar for daylight, those with DR/silver for silverlight) but as you note daylight has better duration and area.
Chain of perdition is actually effective against incorporeals, being a force effect. Only for a few levels though, I'd drop it ~L9-10. Forceful strike might be more useful later on; you have anti-incorporeal shell which would be my other suggestion if you're worried about them in particular.
For 8th level spells dimensional lock is something you should consider. In case you're up against something which is hard to hit with ranged touch for some reason, or multiple teleporters. Frightful aspect which you're getting anyway is pretty good - immunity to full attacks unless the attacker is immune to mind-affecting or fear. Create demiplane is fun if not amazingly powerful unless WBL breaks.