I was four sessions into running PF2 when the lockdown hit, and haven't touched it in six months. Now I'm about to jump into a new campaign as a player, and I seem to have picked myself a character concept with a fairly complex build, and I don't know the system all that well.
The campaign will be RP-heavy, and will not require min-maxed characters, but I'd still like to be helpful when the dice hit the fan. I don't need a full build (not that I'd turn my nose up), but I could use a few tips.
The race will be some either the pre-defined half-orc, or use the 'Other Halves' rule to create an elf/orc (so elf with half-orc heritage, or orc with half-elf.) To be honest, the orc half is what's essential. The other half could be anything with a strong contrast - halfling, for instance. That's the core of the RP concept - a character in constant conflict. He'll constantly be having his orcish ancestors whispering in one ear and his human or elven ancestors whispering in the other. One telling him to exercise patience when dealing with that arrogant mayor; the other telling him to pull out his entrails. He's one part Klaus (Umbrella Academy), one part Bruce Banner.
The class is Oracle with the Ancestors mystery. It seems from my limited experience with the system that I need to be effective with everything - spells, skills, and physical combat - and be ready to switch between them on the fly.
Being good at casting is relatively easy (although I'm not entirely sure which spells to go with), and my thought is to focus on the Charisma-based skills. But how do I handle the physical combat with light armor and having to choose between Constitution, Strength and Dex? Obviously the 'easy' answer is to go ranged, but that really goes against the core character concept.
Any advice?
I have yet to play an oracle or, in fact, any half-caster half-fighter type character, but in this case, I'd recommend emphasizing Dex and getting descent Constitution so you can have good AC and HP, and picking a finesse weapon so your attacks can land. Your curse benefits should make up for at least some of the lack of Strength. I doubt an oracle will ever be the best melee combatant, but you'll still hold your own with that.
Also, for skills, on top of Charisma-based ones like Intimidation, might I recommend Medicine? Sure, it's a Wisdom-based skill, but it might help if casting spells is hard and your teammates are expecting you to heal them (which is often expected from divine casters). If there's another healer in the group, this might be a non-issue.
I would go with archetypes, specially medic and sentinel and honestly STR all the way.
Something like.
Lvl 2 - Medic Dedication
Lvl 3 - General feat Medium Armor
Lvl 4 - Doctor Visitation
Treat Condition
Lvl 6 - Sentinel Dedication
Lvl 8 - Divine Access (Achaekek)
Lvl 10 - Mighty Bulwark
If you go half-human picking the general feat at lvl 1 for medium armor might be preferred.
The skills on this are Medicine, Athletics and Intimation/Diplomacy, giving a wide choice for when skill mama wants to give advice.
I know this is not an answer, but, can you clarify on the Klaus/Bruce banner part? I'm not seeing that with the description. I loved Klaus btw, was wondering if its his ghost abilities or his love of drugzzz.
It's more of an inspiration than a derivation.
Imagine of Klaus's entire family was dead and hanging around like Ben. Plus his adopted father. Now imagine that Klaus was Bruce Banner - a decent guy, but always has this other aspect pushing him to "lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
That's the RP concept. The class/mystery is that the character has ancestors giving him advice. That's simple enough to hand-wave as mechanics, but I'm using it as he constantly has voices only he can hear whispering in his ears, pushing him to do things their way.
And since he's a half-orc, half of those voices are orcs (pushing him to extreme responses) while the other half are humans or elves (pushing him to patience and peaceful responses.) And given that the mechanics indicate that sometimes one voice or another will start to have some control over his actions, he's constantly in flux. And what about his own motivations and personality? Does he even know what they are?
He'll likely be Chaotic Neutral, not so much through his own choices, but due to the constant tug-of-war between extremes with himself as the rope. To outsiders he'll likely come off as a little mad, arguing with people nobody else can hear (there's the Klaus inspiration.) A bit less Johnny Depp, though. ;)
He'll be hard to roleplay without being annoying, but I enjoy an RP challenge. I'll likely also have a short list of significant 'powerful' ancestors. When he rolls 'martial', for instance, that's Rogash getting his way.