My battle oracle will soon have a cash reserve of like 3,750 gp or so. I will already have an optimize melee weapon and staff set up, and own a set of victory plate I think I'll sell to replace. My skills are diplomacy/deception/intimidation and I have a +2 item for deception and a +1 item for the others. I'll be level 11 or 12 when I make these purchases. We have an alchemist who can usually spare me a cheetah and eagle eye elixir, removing the pressure for perception boosters or Lonstrider/Tailwind. I already have boots of bounding and a lot of combat teleport options.
I'm worried I might be overlooking a gem with all the new equipment, but I have some purchases in mind I'm excited for. Would like to know if there are any gems worth using in addition or instead.
Bastion of the Inheritor -- I need +2 armor and a +2 diplomacy item. GM nerfed the perma entrench to only be activatable in combat but buffed the Diplomacy bonus to apply to checks, not just Make an Impression. I think that's worth the speed penalty?
Ash Gown -- +2 intimidation, resit fire 10, and added damage on strides? Plus destroying difficult terrain? Sign me up.
Oracular Crown -- I'm unsure of this one. The self heal is nice, as is the religion bonus, but neither feel necessary. Meanwhile, the free focus point is less necessary with the remaster refocus. We made compatibility rulings that the oracle regains all focus points at once at 11, and instead of becoming overwhelmed when I overmax my curse my doomed condition goes up 1. I have amped guidance and dragon's breath so I can play around this, but I'm not sure how many times I'll need to use a fourth focus point in the same fight.
Shadow Signet -- Really good item, but I'm not sure I have the right spells to use it. Spiritual Armaments and cantrips are all I have for attack rolls and neither is particularly worth using by now.
What level are you, for reference?
Just my two cents: having an alchemist in the party is always good, if you like to use mutagens you should consider a Collar of the Shifting Spider to save yourself time in combat, especially if you don't usually keep a hand free.
I wouldn't ever wear bastion plate in melee unless it were a high level game and I had a surplus of speed, but that one depends on how fast you are: that thing's -10 speed reduction is a death trap otherwise. Bastion of the Inheritor is a bit better since the activation is legitimately good and it also doubles as a skill bonus item, freeing up an investment slot. I'd sooner just pick up a floating shield (same bonus but only once per day) and get a slot for a property rune, but if you can handle the speed loss somehow (e.g., Unburdened Iron, Longstrider, etc) then it could be worth it.
Similar deal for the Ash Gown, condensing investment slots is good, provided it's items you cared about using in the first place... ignoring difficult terrain can come in clutch, but the fire damage is sort of whatever since it allows a save. An alternative would be the Crown of the Fire Eater: also gets you fire resistance, and the +30 (+50 on the greater version) effective HP can be important for a battle-oriented character, especially with fire being common.
I see you're focused on bettering your Charisma skill bonuses. If I may suggest something else, a Jug of Fond Remembrance gives you circumstance bonuses to Diplomacy which fully stack with those from item bonuses. It's also cheap as hell and takes no investment. As for item bonuses to Diplomacy, if you don't get the bastion plate you could also get a Messenger's Ring or even coast with the much cheapera Diplomat's Badge, which is a +1 usually but can go up to +2 provided you can make the (admittedly low) DC 20 Recall Knowledge check reliably.
You have a lot of gold so you're not exactly limited in options, but it can be hard to allocate money efficiently. What I do myself is mixing and matching expensive, must-have gear with other lower level/budget options that can still keep up in usefulness.
I'm level 11. I may be 12 by the time I get the pay day, but it will be next session.
Crown of the fire eater looks cool but I mostly want the gown for the intimidation bonus. Everything else is gravy.
I have a Diplomat's Badge currently, but I'd like to replace it with the armor. I'll check out the jug!
I have a lot of things to offset the speed penalty of bastion plate:
Blink charge
Blazing Dive
Athletic Rush
(Potentially) Ash Gown
Freedom of Movement
Fly
Cheetah Elixirs
So I feel ill probably be ok, but it could bite me in the butt.
I see, well, if you have access to a constant supply of cheetah elixirs then it sounds like a good idea. Looking at it another way, you were already using plate anyways so with the elixir your speed is 5 higher than it would be otherwise; That's a much, MUCH better situation than gaving an effective 5ft speed reduction, so I don't think it will kill you like it could a lower level character.
The activation on the plate is good, a permanent circumstance bonus stacks with AC from spells and whatnot. You're a divine caster so you might have that covered, but on the item side something like a Warding Statuette or a Cassisian Helmet would work well with the plate.
On the subject of Intimidation item bonuses, your reasoning for the Gown seems good as well. Something I'm fond of is using a Demon Mask and using the activation on myself at the start of the day in order to gain a guaranteed Bravery Baldric charge at least once per day. People give you some weird looks, but it's a fun little combo and it's just a cool idea in general, like using the mask as part of a battle ritual.
It might not interest a caster very much since the spells on the baldrics are low level, but as far as I know Oracle doesn't get innate access to Haste (then again, it's a third level spell so a scroll costs like 30gp... Your mileage will probably vary)
People don't often talk about itemization very much and I come at it from the perspective of someone more used to martials, so sorry in advance if these completely miss the mark.
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Yeah, the activation is really what caught my eye. My group decided to nerf it so I can't have it constantly going in exploration mode like the RAW allows for, and instead treat it more like a stance than has to be activated in encounter mode. But +1 AC is +1 AC and helps offset my curse penalty.
We also banned Cassian Helmet because it felt like too much of a mandatory pick otherwise.
Warding Statuette is exactly the sort of gem I was looking for. I am checking with group about using it because it feels pretty strong too.
Demon Mask was my +1 intimidation item. If I don't get the Ash Gown the greater Demon Mask sems like a decent bet.
Bravery Baldric is interesting but I already have haste from feat stuff. (Divine Access and Dragon Disciple both can add it.) I'm slightly tempted by the fleet step version, though.
I'm torn between the Ash Gown and the Greater Demon Mask + Oracular Crown. And I think I might need to go Bastion of the Inheritor to afford both.
We have finally revived this game. I moooostly decided on gear.
Definitely:
+2 greater striking astral brilliant great sword (is also a staff with True Strike, yay)
Bastion of the Inheritor (+2 resilient, +2 Diplomacy)
Greater Ashgown (+2 Intimidation, 10 fire resist)
Charlatan's Cape (+2 Deception)
Jug of Remembrance (Additional Diplomacy circumstance bonuses)
Boots of Bounding
Maybe keeing:
Elemental Wayfinder (Air)
Homebrew ring (acts as once per day candle of truth and candle of revealing in one convenient action)
Sun Shield
Lifters Belt
Ring of Discretion
650 ish GP
I need to either spend that last 650, or sell most of those maybe items and buy an Oracular Crown. So potential purchases:
Oracular Crown
OR
Greater Eyeslash Tatoo
Envisioning Aeon Stone
Preserving Aeon Stone
Scrolls? (Revealing Light? Idk what else.)
Shining Symbol? (Greater?)
One additional wrinkle: I'm pushing my investiture limit at 9 with all the maybe keeping items. The Oracular Crown would free up slots, as would would the shining symbol, and an Aeon Stone won't take one if I slot it in the Elemental Wayfinder.
Anyone want to chime in?
Edit: Cassissian Helmet, Bravery Baldric, and Warding Statuette all are banned. I don't have a clean path to get Tail Wind.
Aren't you using spellheart in your weapon? IMO it's a very good item to have in your weapon for a class that Cast and Strike.
Aren't you using spellheart in your weapon? IMO it's a very good item to have in your weapon for a class that Cast and Strike.
Not currently. Cantrips don't feel relevant anymore and the one really good stand alone option I've found got banned for being OP. Got a suggestion?
I figured out a way to gain access to tailwind, so I bought a second level wand of that and instant armor. I feel good about it. That plus Eye Slash leaves me at 228.4 gp, keeping all my old items. Might sit on that, unless there's a cool spell heart or something.
Edit: Pickled Demon Tongue seems pretty good for armor, and Phantasmal Doorknocker seems like the best weapon choice. Rime Crystal is also an option for armor-- Ray of Frost feels like it has more utility for its range, weakness, and environmental aspects than Electric Arc has at level 11.
Aren't you using spellheart in your weapon? IMO it's a very good item to have in your weapon for a class that Cast and Strike.Not currently. Cantrips don't feel relevant anymore and the one really good stand alone option I've found got banned for being OP. Got a suggestion?
The good part is not about the extra cantrip but to take the additional elemental damage to the weapon. A Jolt Coil + FoB it's pretty interesting.
A Battle Oracle after cast a Divine Vessel doing a FoB with a handwraps full of runes + Joit Coil 1d8 additional damage after cast a EA it's a pretty strong "martial" with healing spells. It's pretty sustainable and strong.
The only problem of this build it's that's probably banned in post-remaster games due many mechanics of Divine Vessel simply doesn't work without alignment you need to convince you GM to allow you to select a damage type freely when you can the spell.
Aren't you using spellheart in your weapon? IMO it's a very good item to have in your weapon for a class that Cast and Strike.Not currently. Cantrips don't feel relevant anymore and the one really good stand alone option I've found got banned for being OP. Got a suggestion?The good part is not about the extra cantrip but to take the additional elemental damage to the weapon. A Jolt Coil + FoB it's pretty interesting.
A Battle Oracle after cast a Divine Vessel doing a FoB with a handwraps full of runes + Joit Coil 1d8 additional damage after cast a EA it's a pretty strong "martial" with healing spells. It's pretty sustainable and strong.
The only problem of this build it's that's probably banned in post-remaster games due many mechanics of Divine Vessel simply doesn't work without alignment you need to convince you GM to allow you to select a damage type freely when you can the spell.
Well, speaking personally, the problem with that build is it isn't mine. ;) I'm not going to be respeccing to a monk build anytime soon. (Also that build relies on how your GM rules your handwraps interact with the new morphed unarmed attack since it deals 2d8 already.)
More generally, while the jolt coil is great at low levels, the weapon benefit will only trigger when I'm using a cantrip, and it doesn't seem worth the actions at this level of play. It's only really good when fighting multiple enemies, but I have Divine Immolation, Divine Wrath, Dragon's Breath, Lightning Bolt, Blazing Dive, and Inner Radiance Torrent for fighting mobs. If I'm bothering to cast a cantrip the fight is likely already decided, and I won't need the extra damage for clean up. Even ignoring my spells, Demoralize and Aid with my maxed Intimidation can potentially generate crits for my allies.
Affixing spellhearts to armor has more appeal since the resistances tend to be passive, though I'm not sure how cost effective the stronger ones are.