Mystery for a combat Oracle, Battle or Metal? Or something else..?

[Merellin]

So, For a combat oracle what mystery would work best? I hear people talking about Battle and Metal a lot.. Whats the strengths and weaknesses of those two compared to eachother? And are there any others that could be good in combat?

[Grandlounge]

Lunar and nature have some nice options. Animal companions are very helpful for melee. Form of the Beast is quite good. Wood works well for wood weapons. Elemental has some defensive stuff swift action blur and a small damage boost. Standard action summons for a combat buddy. Standard +4 AC mystery that scales. Bullrush trip combo.

Otherwise, I like battle more surprising charge, and more feats (including improved crit) are great, full bab and free feats for maneuvers are awesome.

[Watery Soup]

What does "best" mean?

Almost all of the mysteries are super flavorful and can work mechanically. If your party needs you to deal or absorb an extraordinary amount of melee damage, you shouldn't be playing an oracle (or at least not a full one) at all. What you will do well is to put up a good fight and have a few special abilities to neutralize special enemies. Imagine being able to hack at a bad guy while his ranged allies are neutralized by a blizzard; or transforming into an elemental and running through a bunch of defenses - that's an oracle.

Battle is just full of win, period. You can't go wrong with it. But don't ignore the others.

Ancestor has Spirit Shield, and later, Spirit Warrior. Flames had Cinder Dance, and later, Form of Flame. Heavens has Awesome Display, which makes color spray ridiculously powerful. Stone has Crystal Sight and later, Earth Glide. Time has Temporal Celerity, nuff said. Wind has Air Barrier and later, Thunderburst. You can have modest melee capability and be a real asset in conjunction with any of these.

Flame and Waves also have Gaze of Flame and Water Sight, respectively. These allow you to abuse fog/smoke spells like obscuring mist. But they may annoy your party, so check with them first or be prepared to self-limit your use of the abilities.

Life oracles multiclassed with paladins can also be very powerful. Not only are they basically impossible to kill, they make their entire party pretty hard to kill too.

None of these (maybe except for Battle) will have the raw damage output of a well optimized fighter, but they can be as or even more valuable to the party.

[Merellin]

Thank you both! I realy want to try a oracle sometime, They seem fun so I have been pondering a lot, Thank you for all the information!

[Watery Soup]

I'm honestly a little miffed that oracle wasn't made a Core class for 2E.

It's a great PC class but honestly it's even better for mysterious stranger NPCs. The beggar with clouded eyes, the evil priest whose arms turn into fire while making human sacrifices, etc.

[Merellin]

The Oracle is one of the classes announced for the 2E Advanced Players Guide for next year isent it? So while not a core class, It should be comming somewhat soon!

[JiaYou]

Battle especially has some very useful revelations. Rolling twice for initiative? Yes please! Surprising Charge is also excellent. In fact, a Warsighted Oracle also pairs fairly nicely theme-wise with either revelation.

Other builds can be SUPER interesting. I built a Gnome Blackened Lore Oracle: pump CHA to raise saves and spell DCs, and dropped a 13 in INT. Level 1 Spell Focus (Evocation), L3 Spell Specialization. With the Gnome Pyromaniac alternate racial trait, and sinking two points of FCB into raising my curse level by 1, I'm level 4 and able to throw two Scorching Rays around or blind everyone with Burst of Radiance. Meanwhile you can pick up the second Lore Revelation that adds your CHA to knowledge skills and you're now the party librarian.

[Danny StarDust]

Have you, perhaps, considered the Outer Rifts mystery? I find it really...really awesome!