Ancient Lorekeeper Oracle without armor

[Serenity2311]

Hello,

I will be playing an Ancient Lorekeeper Oracle for our new campaign. I love casting divine spells but am bored with the medium-armored-melee concept (played various cleric/paladins in the past). I am planning to go for a purely divine caster as a buffer/healer/nuker with some added arcane spells from the ancient lorekeeper archetype and eldritch heritage: arcane for some sorcerer flair. To round out the character, I would forego weapon and armor proficiency and be some kind of divine sorcerer.
My DM now suggested that I add some features to the character to balance out the missing armor. I have some ideas, but I am not sure they will balance the character.
I could i.e., get sidestep secret or add extra arcane spells to the list every time the oracle gets a new mystery spell (such as the magister).
I welcome further suggestions.

(I also looked into other classes such as witch, but they don’t fit my character concept, which focuses more on divine spells.)

[SheepishEidolon]

Some mysteries offer an improved version of mage armor as a revelation. It scales with level, has some special effect later on and can be used in 1-hour increments (hence it's basically "all day" after a few levels).

Given that you basically want to play a sorcerer with healing capabilities, I wonder whether unicorn or phoenix bloodline might be a better fit for you...

[Ryze Kuja]

I wonder if you might consider the Mystic Theurge PrC for this divine/arcane robe-wearer?

[Serenity2311]

Thank you for your answers. In my mind, the sorcerer doesn't have access to the spells I like to cast such as: restoration, prayer, aid etc. Most important arcane buffs are already taken over by the summoner of our group.

The Mystic Theurge has a very slow spell progression if I would go for Oracle/Sorcerer.

I want to play the oracle like a Holy/Smiter Priest (e.g. Wold of Warcraft) but the option in pathfinder are limited for a divine spontaneous caster without armor. I want to keep the divine spell list, get access to some arcane spells and be armorless based at the background story of my character.
I'm not sure how to balance the lack of armor with any other benefit. Another idea could be an additional arcane spell per level known, but would this be too strong?

[Mysterious Stranger]

To make your concept work you need the right mystery and curse. You need something with offensive revelations and a curse that gives you some good spells. An oracle of the heavens with the blackened curse would work fairly well. The oracle of heavens has some decent offensive revelations and coat of many stars keeps your AC up without having to wear armor. The elven favored class bonus can pump up one revelation for some extra damage. The blackened curse gives you burning hands, flaming sphere, scorching ray, wall of fire and delayed blast fireball.

You don’t want to use melee weapons, so the blackened curse actually is not really that bad. If your GM wants to give you something for giving up using armor the feat extra revelation would work. That way you can pick up Coat of Many Stars. This allows you to get the offensive revelations but still have an appropriate AC. If you go with half elf instead of elf you can gain extra spells for your favored class bonus

[Mark Hoover 330]

Are you looking for things to ask your GM for in place of trading away weapon and armor proficiencies? If that's what you're asking about, maybe just look at feats. Maybe you lose the ability to use armor and shields but pick up Combat Expertise as a free bonus feat. Another option might be item creation feats; getting a free Scribe Scroll, if you'll have access to time and resources throughout the campaign, means having a steady stream of cheap scrolls of Shield of Faith, Magic Vestment and eventually Mage Armor, among others.

On the other hand you could pick up Channel (Positive) Energy instead. Just like the Cleric ability you'd get to heal, damage undead, and use Channel Energy to qualify for other feats as well. If you are choosing to be the healer of the party and want to smite as well, this could be a way to get there. Along the same lines, instead of Channel Energy you could instead just ask that your PC heals +1 HP per die rolled on all Cure spells to increase the effectiveness of their existing healing magic.

Ooh, that's another thing you could ask for: either a Domain or a Blessing in place of the proficiencies. I don't know WOW but if you're going for someone that, if they need to deal damage they do so by smiting, you might choose either the War or Chaos Domain; on the other hand having the Luck or War Blessing would be a huge boost to one of your allies. These are just buffing type domains/blessings though; there's plenty of other ways to go with this.

[Java Man]

Have you considered an Eclesietheurge (yeah I mangled the spelling) cleric? Spontaneous domain casting and swapping out domains might get you what you are after, and it trades out armor and weapon use already.

[Belafon]

Serenity2311 wrote:

My DM now suggested that I add some features to the character to balance out the missing armor. I have some ideas, but I am not sure they will balance the character.

I'm not sure what overall power level your group plays at, but the missing weapon and armor proficiencies probably don't deserve major replacement buffs. Especially since anyone except an arcane caster can walk around in a +1 mithral breastplate of comfort saying "who cares about proficiency?" It's entirely possible to play an oracle of almost any mystery (not Battle, maybe not a couple of others) who focuses on casting and doesn't really care about weapons or armor at all. In my PFS career I saw several who were 11th level and had never bothered to upgrade the light mace and leather armor they bought at first level.

Having said that, maybe a cleric's first level domain power? Not the spell slots or spells, just the power. Or a sorcerer's first level bloodline power (not the arcana, they tend to be pretty strong).

[Tim Emrick]

I'm currently playing a community guardian lore oracle in an AP, who has just reached 10th level. She uses armor, but I've limited her to light because she's a halfling with low Strength (so a mithral chain shirt was a must-have ASAP). She eventually picked up a buckler, too, after I managed to reduce her load enough to keep her from being encumbered with it.

I very much recommend Sidestep Secret if you want a decent AC with light or no armor. I took Extra Revelation at 1st level just so I could have that, because my archetype dictated which revelation I got at 1st. Our party lacks any PCs with heavy armor, so with that boost, my oracle has consistently had the highest AC in the party, pre-buff-spells. (And if I shifted the value of her armor into other protective items, it would still be pretty good.)