[RPG] Build Advice For Pathfinder Oracle

featsoraclepathfinder-1eskills

I've made an Oracle, 1st level, Mystery of Lore, Haunted Curse, and I took Sidestep Secret as my first revelation. I'm trying to decide if I should focus on melee combat and take relevant feats for that or if I should take metamagic feats, or something else. Also, any advice for building the character would be helpful. This will be my first Pathfinder character after a long period of 3.5 games. The statblock is Str 13, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 20, as a human.

At the moment the team composition is a fey sorceress, a druid (who wants to do lots of 'I'm a bear!' shapeshifting fun), and a zen archery monk. I don't want to neglect my spellcasting side, because I get the feeling my cures are going to be a big part of the composition, but I feel like I need to be out in front, mostly because at least two of the others in the group are going to be bad at it.

As for optimization, I like my mystery and my character, but I think that some level of min/maxing shows interest and respect for the game.

Best Answer

This is a pretty interesting question. Without more clarity as @mxyzplk points out, I'll keep this at general suggestions, but I'll be happy to add more clear suggestions later if necessary.

First off, let's look at your ability scores. Your Cha 20 is going to be netting you +2 additional 1st level spells per day, which gives you a total of 5 (I'm going to leave 0th out of the answer, since they're however many times you want). Problem with Oracles is they get 2 1st level spells known per day at 1st level which if I'm not mistaken can't be modified by anything. This is also going to make the saving throw target number for your 1st level spells 16 (10 + Cha bonus of 5 + Spell level 1), which isn't too shabby.

Your Revelation makes your Cha bonus apply to your AC instead of Dex, and adds to your reflex save. You're going to be decently hard to hit, with a +5 bonus to your AC and reflex.

The rest of your abilities, though, cap out at a +1 bonus. So base, you're at a +1 to hit in melee (+0 BAB for starting Oracle), and a +0 for Ranged.

You're getting 4 + 1 skill point per level for the Int bonus, +1 for being human (and possibly an additional one if you do that with your favored class, which I'm assuming is oracle). The rest of your stats are +0.

The Lore mystery will play heavily into your skills. You'll be doing a decent amount of skill rolling outside of combat, and will be able to identify magic items with the best of them. Plus, being able to Brain Drain a captive to get information is just cool.

The Trickier bit is going to be combat. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Buff/Debuffer

Okay, so here's where we can branch out a little. My primary suggestion would be (depending on the composition of your party) do something with buffs/debuffs. Bless is a nice 1 min/level spell that gives every ally within 50 ft a +1 attack bonus and a +1 to fear saves. Couple that with your high-ish spell save DC and you could take Bane,Cause Fear, or Doom for a bit of early-on battlefield control. Your High Cha will give you a decent save DC, and additionally your AC will be pretty decent for your class. Also since you can Spontaneously cast Cure Spells whether or not you know them, you're a decent support healer in a fight as well. You can also up your Save DC with Spell Focus in the given school your chosen debuff spell is in.

Fighting Route

If you want to go the route of attacking things youself, I would suggest you take Magic Weapon and Shield of Faith (or Bless if you want to up your attack more, it stacks with the Enhancement bonus of Magic Weapon). You can take feats which make you a bit more effective with your chosen weapon (which, base, is limited to simple weapons), but you need BAB of +1 to get Weapon Focus, and you can't get anything past that without being a fighter.

Summoning Route

Alternatively, you could take Summon Monster I and a few feats to boost the effectiveness of the summon (Augment Summoning and it's prerequisite), to dole out some more damage.

TeeHee you can't hit me

If you want to do nothing but dodge attacks, you could: Take a combination of Entropic Shield, Shield of Faith, and Protection from Evil. Note that the AC bonus of Shield of Faith and Protection from Evil don't stack, since they're both deflection, but you get the idea. Nothing like a 20% miss chance from ranged attacks and a 20 AC at 1st level (+4 from armor, +4 from Cha, +2 from Spell). If you consider upping your Dex to 13 at the cost of say your Con, you could take Dodge as a feat, get another +1 to your AC, and then make up for the loss of a hit point per level with your favored class bonus.

Per your Metamagic Feat suggestion, since you're a spontaneous caster, keep in mind that any metamagic feat you take will force you to spend a full-round action casting the spell. (Aside from Quicken Spell, of course).