Hi all,
I'm intrigued by the Oracle class because being racked with unwanted power sounds like it would be fun to RP. With that said, I don't want to gimp my character because I don't know what the f%@! I'm doing (I normally play martials). I'm interested in the battle mystery and ancestor mysteries but don't know what to prioritize and where to "take" the character build-wise. Can y'all help me out?
Many thanks!
What would you consider “gimping” your character ?
You want to go take 16 or 18 in Charisma being your casting stat
If you want to melee then you then need strength and some con for survivability . And then keep an eye on AC as well which is likely Dex or finding a way of getting heavier armour
Your question is quite broad...
Ancestors is the most complicated one, because you want useful strikes and skill actions to deal with your ancestors backseating what you do.
So getting something like archer archetype for strikes and getting skill feats like Bon Mot and demoralizing ones makes easier to deal with the curse. If you don't mind going close, Athletics is nice for combat maneuvers.
Battle Oracle obviously wants to strike because otherwise the AC and saves penalty are nasty. Champion MC is a classic and Bastion is really good for survivability too. Close combat again makes Athletics skills helps a lot too.
What would you consider “gimping” your character ?
Choosing a stat array that doesn't synergize well with the class and chosen mystery
You want to go take 16 or 18 in Charisma being your casting stat
If you want to melee then you then need strength and some con for survivability . And then keep an eye on AC as well which is likely Dex or finding a way of getting heavier armour
thank you this is helpful
Ancestors is the most complicated one, because you want useful strikes and skill actions to deal with your ancestors backseating what you do.
So getting something like archer archetype for strikes and getting skill feats like Bon Mot and demoralizing ones makes easier to deal with the curse. If you don't mind going close, Athletics is nice for combat maneuvers.
Battle Oracle obviously wants to strike because otherwise the AC and saves penalty are nasty. Champion MC is a classic and Bastion is really good for survivability too. Close combat again makes Athletics skills helps a lot too.
very very helpful. Thanks Kyrone!
You want to have at least 1 generally useful/battle spell per level, probably making it your signature spell. And the others can be more niche uses.
For instance,
Level 1: heal (signature), bless, and air bubble.
Level 2: spiritual weapon (signature), calm emotion, farie fire
Spiritual weapon also counts as a Stike.
Ooooh, good call on Spiritual Weapon there.
You want to have at least 1 generally useful/battle spell per level, probably making it your signature spell. And the others can be more niche uses.
For instance,
Level 1: heal (signature), bless, and air bubble.
Level 2: spiritual weapon (signature), calm emotion, farie fireSpiritual weapon also counts as a Stike.
Thanks you! This is the kind of advice I find especially useful as it gives me insight into the more subtle interactions of stats and class features/feats. Something I don't have a feel for yet.
If you want to melee then you then need strength and some con for survivability . And then keep an eye on AC as well which is likely Dex or finding a way of getting heavier armour
Battle Oracle gets heavy armor. But you are still only going up to expert.
So you can kind of plays line a barbarian. Low AC, high health. Also, you can sustain spells when stupified.
Going martial artist with stumbling stance could help offset the lower attack roll.
Also, you do not need to go full Cha. There are spells, like heal, that do not need any casting stat. And some blasts do half on a miss anyway.
Also, also. Bless gives a status bonus. So does the battle mystery. So those will not stack.
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Going martial artist with stumbling stance could help offset the lower attack roll
Nice call. I'll look into that as I can already see some RP potential...stumbling not because (pretending to be) drunk but because seeing glimpses of other battles and reacting to those
Also, also. Bless gives a status bonus. So does the battle mystery. So those will not stack.
Yep, noticed that but thanks for the reminder
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What would you consider “gimping” your character ?Choosing a stat array that doesn't synergize well with the class and chosen mystery
I think what was meant by this was:
"Which Curse do you want to Thematically Embody?"
aka
"Which Curse are you willing to use your Character Choices to Mitigate?"
Have you settled on one yet?
What would you consider “gimping” your character ?Choosing a stat array that doesn't synergize well with the class and chosen mysteryI think what was meant by this was:
"Which Curse do you want to Thematically Embody?"
aka
"Which Curse are you willing to use your Character Choices to Mitigate?"Have you settled on one yet?
Yes, "Which Curse are you willing to use your Character Choices to Mitigate?" gets very close to what I meant. For example, a low strength low dex battle oracle? I assume that's "doable" in a very generous reading of the word, but would I be a net negative to my party? I assume the answer is yes.
As for have you settled on a Mystery yet: I'm liking Battle as a first choice and have to admit, am being drawn to Tempest too.
I like Tempest for damage and battlefield control. You can see through your fog spells (Divine Access) and the see through all water can be crazy powerful in an aquatic campaign. Plus the 15' zone of major curse difficult terrain can be hilarious if you can avoid catching your party in it.
Thanks Xenocrat. I'm getting the hang of the class features/feats (for the most part) but spell selection is stumping me. Any advice?
General spells? Spells for Battle? Spells for Tempest?
I think all Oracles pretty much need Heal and Harm and both as signature spells at some point for single action self heal and attack without using focus. Sudden Blight and Enervation can handle your non-elemental blasting needs, and divine access to get some combination of Hydraulic Push, Solid Fog, Hydraulic Torrent, and/or Chain Lightning for blasting and crowd control.
If you go Battle, I'd highly recommend finding a way to add True Strike to your spell list (playing a Human for Adaptive Adept is the easiest way I think). It's a fantastic spell for any weapon caster, and it's an evergreen 1st level spell that you can spam with otherwise useless slots.
Oh yeah, that'd work too. Ragathiel offers True Strike and has the Zeal domain (pretty sure you don't have to actually worship the deity in question for Divine Access to work so there's no backstory restrictions on this).