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“Your holiness, I know not how to proceed.”
“Then attend to the vapors, for in them all is written as it should be.”
— Alahazra, Oracle
Bell, Book, & Candle:
A Guide to the Pathfinder Oracle
As Allerseelen (Community Use Policy)
As All Souls Gaming (Commercial License)
OCL440: The Oracle Performs Feats
Ancient Lorekeeper (Advanced Race Guide)
Black-Blooded Oracle (Inner Sea Magic)
Cyclopean Seer (Inner Sea Monster Codex)
Dual-Cursed Oracle (Ultimate Magic)
Elementalist Oracle (Ultimate Wilderness)
Enlightened Philosopher (Ultimate Magic)
Hermit (Legacy of the First World)
Keleshite Prophet (Inner Sea Intrigue)
Ocean’s Echo (Blood of the Sea)
Pei Zin Practitioner (Healer’s Handbook)
Possessed Oracle (Ultimate Magic)
Psychic Searcher (Advanced Class Guide)
Reincarnated Oracle (Advanced Race Guide)
Seeker (Pathfinder Society Field Guide)
Shigenjo (Advanced Race Guide)
Spirit Guide (Advanced Class Guide)
Warsighted (Advanced Class Guide)
Community Guardian (Advanced Race Guide)
Divine Numerologist (Disciple’s Doctrine)
Inerrant Voice (Heroes of the High Court)
Planar Oracle (Ultimate Magic)
Purifier (Advanced Race Guide)
River Soul (Ultimate Wilderness)
Tree Soul (Ultimate Wilderness)
OCL700: Dips, VMC, Prestige, Gestalt
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Introduced first in 2010 with the release of the Advanced Player’s Guide, the Oracle class has quickly risen to the top of many players’ “Favorite Class” lists. I happen to include myself among those players! Mechanically, Oracles feel like an almost perfect marriage of the Sorcerer and Cleric classes: Mysteries feel and play a lot like Bloodlines, and both Sorcerers and Oracles are spontaneous casters; and yet, Oracles share their hit die, BAB progression, and divine spell list with the Cleric. In terms of flavor, well, Oracles can be anything you want them to be, from raging seers who channel the raw bloodshed of battle, to the traditional smoke-veiled mystics spinning prophecies from the movements of planets, patterns of bones, and whisperings of the wind. Thanks to the immense range of Mysteries and Curses available, there is no such thing as a “mainstream” Oracle: every combination of Mystery, Curse, and spells known will feel and play entirely differently from any other. You’re a snowflake, kid.
Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t trap options and wrong turns that players, especially players new to Pathfinder, can take when building an Oracle, but then again, that’s what I’m here for: to guide you through the best of the best and the worst of the worst, explain what I can, render my judgments, and hopefully leave you with a sense of cohesion at the end of it all. We’ll go over some of the Prime Directives that govern the inner workings of the class in the next section, The Making of a Seer, but for now, let me just say that I hope you enjoy the guide. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on Reddit, where you can find me at my handle, /u/Allerseelen, as well as in my professional capacity as the head of All Souls Gaming on Patreon and Twitter. And with that, let’s get started! Happy hunting, my friends.
All my best,
Chris
One of the first impressions that experienced players might start to get as they review the Oracle class is, “Holy crap, how is the power curve on these guys so high?” And it’s true, Oracles pack a lot of punch. Between full casting, a d8 HD and ¾ BAB, medium armor proficiency, and the various Revelations and bonus spells granted by your Mystery, there’s practically nothing you can’t do with some degree of success, so long as you’ve focused your build on it. That’s not something every class can boast of: no matter how you build a single-class Wizard, for example, it’s unlikely that she’ll ever become a capable melee combatant. Here are a few important, universal points to consider as you build and play your Oracles:
Throughout this guide, you’ll see feats, spells, class features, etc. rated using a color coding system that was first introduced by Treantmonk and since copied in many other guides. Everyone tends to use their own colors, though, so here’s what we’ll be working with:
Blue abilities are the absolute best of the best: options that define the way an Oracle is played, or that otherwise provide some exponential leap in effectiveness. Try your utmost to pick up these options.
Green abilities are almost universally useful, a good pick for nearly any build. If they’re not gamebreakingly powerful, they’re definitely holding up the line at a solid B+.
Yellow abilities are our C standard, neither good nor bad. A yellow rating can also denote situational abilities that might be useful to some playstyles but not others.
Red abilities are the traps. Stay away from these.
Black ratings are mostly used in the spell selection guide to point out spells that make for poor spells known, yet serve their purpose admirably as scrolls or wands. Wizards, Druids, and Clerics don’t have to worry about that kind of thing, but there’s a price to be paid for either kind of casting.
d8 Hit Die: Like their brethren the Clerics, Oracles are built to be able to withstand at least a moderate amount of pain, getting a d8 HD and ¾ BAB progression while retaining full casting. It’s pretty good, considering most Oracles won’t go too heavy on martial combat.
¾ BAB Progression: On par with Clerics, Inquisitors, Warpriests, and most of the divine casters. Nice that you get ¾, instead of ½ like the Wizard or Psychic.
Full Casting Progression: Full, spontaneous, divine casting! Although Oracles aren’t as flexible as Clerics in what they can prepare for a day’s adventuring, spontaneous casting ensures that you’ve got as many instances of your best spells available to you at all times. And with a CHA casting stat and the ability to pick up Use Magic Device as a class skill through traits, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be stealing other classes’ wands and scrolls for your own use.
Armor Proficiencies: You're proficient with light armor, medium armor, and shields. A Mithral breastplate is more than enough for your purposes, as again, most Oracles won’t be frontline fighters. (Ascetic, Battle, Dragon, Godclaw, Lunar, Metal, and Nature are the likeliest exceptions to this rule.) Do note that many Mysteries grant Revelations that provide armor bonuses; if your GM rules that these Revelations stack with spells like magic vestment, they’re ideal replacements for traditional manufactured armor, and can save you a bundle. Watch out for those antimagic fields, though...
Good Will Save, Bad Fortitude and Reflex Saves: Will is by far the most important save to have in your back pocket, but the bad Fort save does make me uncomfortable. Fortunately, with the Cleric spell list at your fingertips, you’re about as prepared as you could be to treat diseases, purge poisons, and generally shrug off the effects of failed Fort saves. The Great Fortitude feat isn’t a bad investment at all, especially if your Curse predisposes you to fail saves against Fortitude-based effects.
Skills: You get 4 + INT, and your list is pretty sparse, at least before Mysteries get added to the mix. Given that Intelligence will probably be one of your dump stats, you can’t count on having many skill ranks available. Thank goodness full casting helps alleviate that pain somewhat.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple weapons only. That’s okay: most Oracles will be able to get along with a longspear, a morningstar, or a light crossbow. Mysteries that really want you to jump into the thick of it will provide the means, and plenty of races offer their own ways of acquiring proficiency with better weapons.
(1) Mysteries and Revelations: Mysteries and Revelations are the absolute core of the Oracle class: along with your Curse, they define your theme, your bonus spells, your role in the party...everything, really. Mysteries are your innate connection to the Divine, and as such grant extraordinarily powerful abilities called Revelations. You will receive only six of these gifts from your Mystery over the course of your career, so it’s important to choose wisely—that gap from 3rd to 7th levels can feel like forever, if you’re not careful.
Of course, receiving gifts from unknown and inscrutable sources never comes at a terrible cost, right? Right? Well, about that...
(1) Curse: The combination of Mystery and Curse is what really makes the Oracle class for me. Most classes have a straight progression, growing constantly and consistently in power. That’s good game design, after all, right? In exchange for their full casting progression and powerful Revelations, however, Oracles have to pay a steep price in the form of their Curse. These can range from figuratively crippling setbacks (being unable to leave one small plot of land forever) to literally crippling setbacks (the Lame Curse) to minor roleplaying annoyances (being unable to lie with the Legalistic Curse). If constantly pushing to overcome debility or inconvenience seems like it would ruin the class, well, fear not, the curses get less and less curse-like as you go, eventually turning into boons for the Oracle in the form of extra spells known or special powers. As far as I’m concerned, though, Paizo knocked it out of the park with this one: give a character a strength, and you’ll remember them for a day; give them an interesting flaw, and you’ll remember them for a lifetime. Our main goal with Curses (discussed more in OCL360: The Curse of Sight) is to get some amount of flavorful flaw without completely trashing an Oracle’s usefulness, in combat or out. It’s not so hard!
(20) Final Revelation: How you’d ever get to 20th level is anyone’s guess, but if you do, there’s some cool stuff waiting for you. For Oracles, you usually get some overt manifestation of the divine that permanently changes you, supercharging your godly energies. Yadda yadda yadda.
Alternate Capstones: The new book Chronicle of Legends came out on Archives of Nethys recently, and one of the coolest features it added is alternate capstone powers for just about every class. Here are some of the highlights:
Now that you’ve read through the Oracle’s abilities—broadly speaking—and you’re on board for the class, the next item on the docket is to select a race. Core races are the most widely accepted at tables, and the friendliest for PFS play, so I’ll review all of them, regardless of their suitability to oracular escapades. Later on, we’ll get to a review of selected Featured and Uncommon races that can hold their own with the best of them.
Pro | Con |
Good racial traits. Dwarves get some of the best racial traits around, Hardy being a stand-out. Your Will save is already pretty solid, but having it as high as possible is never a bad idea. | Mediocre favored class bonus. Weapon proficiency isn’t much to write home about, even exotic weapon proficiency. Because most Oracles will be of one casting bent or another, no one but Battle Oracles will need to be picking up other weapon proficiencies. |
Racial darkvision. | Lower base movement speed. Yeah, it’s the pits. At least your speed is never reduced by armor, which again, will help out the Battle Oracles going for heavy armor proficiency. |
CHA penalty. Ouch. WIS is a pretty irrelevant score for Oracles, and CHA is crucial. Not a great set-up. |
Unstoppable patches your Fortitude save and gives you an extra bundle of HP. Spiritual Support might work well for a Life or other healing-focused Oracle. Iron Citizen pairs nicely with your CHA focus, and aids you in being the party face. Fey Thoughts opens up your limited skill selection. Barrow Warden and Death’s End are mutually exclusive racial traits that will help you against Undead.
Everything that makes Dwarves wonderful Inquisitors, Druids, and Monks makes them disappointing Oracles. A penalty to the main casting stat on a full caster is simply not going to work out in your favor in most cases; that said, however, the stat distribution might not be such a hit for non-casting focused Oracles. Any playstyle that focuses on self- or team buffing without using enemy-targeted spells can make a slightly lower CHA score work—it’s always going to be a slog, though, so just be prepared for that.
Pro | Con |
Weapon familiarity. Elves get access to a good variety of weapons, especially ranged weapons. If you also spend a feat to get martial weapon proficiency, you can access the Elven Curve Blade and Elven Branched Spear, two of the best melee weapons around. | Low-light vision, but no racial darkvision. |
Elven Magic. As full casters, at least part of an Oracle’s job is to cast spells targeting enemies. This brings us face to face with Spell Save DCs and Spell Resistance, both of which you will have to overcome in some way. Elven Magic gives you a decent headstart on the second item. | Inconsistent favored class bonus. Even if you took the FCB at every level from 1-18, you’d still only see a 3-level bump in effectiveness. Probably best used on the various armor Revelations. |
Poor stat distribution. +2 INT really does nothing for us, although +2 DEX isn’t bad for ranged attacks and AC. A penalty to CON is pretty terrible, though, considering you’ve got a d8 HD and a slow Fortitude save progression. |
Crossbow Training might prove useful, essentially being a free feat for a weapon you’re already proficient with. Dragon Magic could be pretty cool when paired with the Dragon Mystery: worship Apsu today! Fey-Sighted is good for anyone. Moonkissed shores up all your saves, which you could do with.
Elves have always been strong ranged combatants—and they’d have to be, with a penalty to CON. As long as you’re okay with being frailer than most other races, the Fair Folk actually don’t do too badly as Oracles. Certain Mysteries (Lore, primarily) and archetypes (Ancient Lorekeeper, which is Elf-only; also Psychic Searcher and Enlightened Philosopher) can make good use of a high secondary INT score, so it’s worthwhile to consider whether you can make INT work for you as an Oracle, rather than lament the lack of a CHA bonus.
Pro | Con |
Excellent stat distribution. STR won’t be of much use to casting-focused Oracles, making it ideal for a cut. More HP, a better Fortitude save, and a bonus to our casting stat are golden. | Unusual favored class bonus. For some Oracles, increasing the speed at which their Curse improves is incredible (Clouded Vision, e.g.) but for others, the Curse isn’t a big deal (Covetous, Legalistic). I’m a fan of this FCB for Dual-Cursed Oracles, who can’t ever progress one Curse and should therefore be interested in making the Curse that does progress less of a nuisance as soon as possible. |
Appealing array of alternate racial traits. Gnomes’ usual racial traits don’t do a whole lot for adventurers, but there are some great alternatives. See below. | Low-light vision, but no racial darkvision. |
Small size. I think I can safely mark this in the “Pro” column for Oracles—casters generally want higher AC. | Low base movement speed. This isn’t nearly as big a problem as it would be for melee characters, because Oracles can do nearly all their work from range. |
Of your racial traits, only Keen Senses and (possibly) Gnome Magic are worth retaining. Let’s start with one must-have: you must have Nosophobia, which greatly patches your Fortitude save while sacrificing next to nothing. Charming Diviner, Faerie Dragon Magic, and Fey Magic are cool and highly thematic for an Oracle. Eternal Hope’s bonuses vs. fear effects probably won’t come into play too often, but the free reroll 1/day on a Natural 1 is great. Fey Thoughts can and should be used to get UMD and Perception on your class list, regardless of your Mystery.
Gnomes are certainly a top-shelf Oracle race, especially among the Core races. You’ll find yourself loving all the SLAs and little buffs to casting they sling around, and Nosophobia/Eternal Hope can give you a little more defensive oomph. Certainly, having a bonus to CON is a welcome change for a caster! I’m so happy to be able to rate these little guys well—they’re one of my favorite races, but they’re absolute garbage for WIS-based classes.
Pro | Con |
Ancestral Arms. Getting access to any martial or exotic weapon is extremely strong. | Low-light vision, but no racial darkvision. |
Great favored class bonus. Again, more spells known = more flexible casting. Never say no except in the very first levels when you'll have access to orisons only. | |
Paragon Surge. This Half-Elf-only spell allows you to gain an extra feat that you qualify for when you cast it; this, it turns out, opens the door to a whole bunch of shenanigans we’ll get into down in the spells section. Jump! | |
Free skill focus feat or bonus to Will saves. Adaptability or Dual-Minded are great alternatives to Ancestral Arms if you don’t envision yourself in melee. | |
Floating stat bonus. Always good to have the option; yours will most likely go into CHA, but DEX is another strong option if you’re fighting at range or using an Elven Curve Blade build with Weapon Finesse. |
A free Skill Focus feat isn’t a gamechanger for Oracles unless you’re pursuing the Eldritch Heritage feat line, so feel free to trade Adaptability away. Dual-Minded is an easy buff to Will saves if you’re going with a casting build; combat specialists will want Ancestral Arms. Fey Thoughts is a no-brainer unless you’re multiclassing, in which case you’ll probably want Multidisciplined, not Multitalented.
Half-Elves almost always make a good showing in racial selection, and the Oracle is no different. Floating stat bonus, excellent FCB, and the ability to grab better weapon proficiencies make this race a strong choice.
Pro | Con |
Ideal stat distribution. Especially for ranged combat, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a better stat array than +2 DEX/CHA, -2 STR. Nothing but upside here. | 20-foot movement speed. You can and probably should rectify this with the Fleet of Foot alternate racial trait. |
Adaptable Luck and Fate’s Favored. This combo is just a wee bit cliched at this point, but there’s no denying that it works: three flexible +3 (Luck) bonuses to any check throughout the day is amazing. If you prefer a slower and steadier style, stick with the base Halfling Luck. | Unusual favored class bonus. As the Gnome FCB: some curses will hardly slow you up, and some can wreck you before you’ve gotten a bunch of levels under your belt. You’ll have to decide whether it’s right for you. |
Small size. You might occasionally curse your short stature if an enemy goes to Grapple or something, but overall, the bonuses to hit, AC, and Stealth are way too good for full casters. |
Danger Detection covers the most obvious and pressing uses of Perception, so some may choose to trade away Keen Senses for it. If you really want to be a rocketized animal, you can grab both Fey-Quickened and Fleet of Foot, which will boost your speed to 30 ft., improve your initiative, and give you the Run feat. (You really should get both of those.)
They’re tanky, stealthy, and hardly any slower than a Medium-sized race. Assuming you’re going to build your Halfling for any kind of casting-focused role and not straight-up melee combat, you really can’t do better.
Pro | Con |
Bonus weapon proficiencies. Falchions, greataxes, and orc hornbows are amazing martial weapons that are absolutely a step up from what Oracles usually get. And because they’re coming to you racially, Half-Orcs taking the Battle or Metal Mysteries won’t need to spend a Revelation picking up proficiency. Chain Fighter can work to provide bludgeoning weapons, but I’d probably stick to falchions (if you have a means of picking up Improved Critical, as from the Weapon Mastery Revelation) or greataxes (if you want to pump STR sky-high). | |
Human favored class bonus. “And I, I took the FCB less taken, and that has made all the difference.” Giving yourself more spells known is the single best thing you can do for yourself as an Oracle. | |
Racial darkvision. | |
Floating stat bonus. It’s not quite as spot on as other, more focused attribute bonuses, but hey, it’s flexible. |
The Acute Darkvision and Dragon Sight alternate racial traits are good ones to grab (Dragon Sight especially, if you're not demoralizing professionally) for improved darkvision, although Shaman’s Apprentice can also be a contender to replace Intimidating if you see yourself doing a lot of wilderness exploration. I've never been a fan of Orc Ferocity, so if you're like me, you'll be looking for replacement traits, two of which jump out: Toothy (for a primary natural attack, 1d4) or Sacred Tattoo (which grants a +1 luck bonus to all saves, boosted to +2 if it’s Wine and Cheese Hour and you take the Fate's Favored trait).
With their innate weapon proficiencies, darkvision, and exceedingly good FCB, Half-Orcs should almost always be in strong contention for your Oracle builds. Those sporting the Battle, Metal, Godclaw, and Outer Rifts Mysteries will be hardened, scary, lethal combatants.
Pro | Con |
Free bonus feat. Oracles are strapped, strapped, strapped for feats, especially those who want to be able to fill multiple roles on a team. One bonus feat can be the difference between life and death in a build. | No darkvision or low-light vision. |
Free skill point every level. You don’t get many of them. Enjoy it. | |
Amazing FCB. Half-Orcs and Half-Elves learned it here, folks. Every casting-based Oracle will want to at least consider one of these three core races. |
The alternate racial traits are only rarely worth it, except in situations where your bonus feat mimics one of the alternate racial traits (e.g., the Spell Penetration feat and the Unstoppable Magic racial trait—you can't get SP twice, but if you take UM as your replacement for the bonus feat, you can pick up SP later on).
Losing darkvision isn’t ultimately too much of a hindrance. You have light as an orison, and GMs are mostly too busy keeping everything else on the rails to nag you about concealment.
A complete treatment of every Pathfinder race would be exhausting and minimally fruitful. I'll cover some of the highlights among Golarion's less common peoples, but there are a few criteria that you can use to make your own selections:
Pro | Con |
Awesome stat spread. A bonus to two scores without any drawback attribute is unique among Pathfinder races...and hey, look at that, one of the scores is your casting stat! Funny little world we live in. If variant heritages are allowed, Angel-Blooded Aasimar do amazing work as Melee Oracles, while Peri-, Azata-, and Agathion-Blooded Oracles excel at Skill, Ranged, and Tank roles, respectively. There’s so much to like among the variant heritages. | Bad FCB. Spending six FCBs to advance the bonuses of one Revelation by one level should trigger an automatic gag reflex in you. If not, start cultivating it now. Assuming your GM rules that the Scion of Humanity trait lets you take the Human FCB, this con becomes a major pro. |
Racial SLA, 1/day. Base Aasimar get daylight, a good 3rd-level spell, while other variants get different SLAs. Remember that racial SLAs, even 3rd-level SLAs like daylight, don’t qualify you for Evangelist early. | |
Innate energy resistances. | |
Racial darkvision. |
If you're going to be fighting any undead in your campaign, take the Deathless Spirit alternate racial trait instead of Celestial Resistance—the resistance to negative energy and boosts to saves vs. energy drain, negative levels, etc. are simply too good to pass up. Heavens and Solar Oracles will also want to browse over the Heavenborn trait for the +1 CL when casting [light] and [good] spells. Check out Scion of Humanity below!
Even the base Aasimar chassis is really, really strong, and gets even stronger if variant heritages are on the table. Also check with your GM about whether Scion of Humanity allows you to take the Human FCB. If it does, get it, because it opens up a whole new realm of self-buffs affecting only Humanoids (not Native Outsiders) and gives you all those tasty spells known. No real drawbacks here!
Pro | Con |
Amazing attribute distribution. +2 DEX, +2 CHA, -2 WIS is truly as good as could be wished for. | Low-light vision, but no racial darkvision. Can’t cats see, like, really well in the dark? |
Human FCB. The rich get richer, eh? Yeah, Catfolk are one of the few non-core races to get more spells known. Cue the fireworks. | |
Decent racial skill bonuses. You can always trade out these skills for face skills under alternative racial traits. | |
Cat’s Luck. Your Reflex save really isn’t great, making Cat’s Luck ideal for shrugging off the occasional fireball. | |
Access to a Climb speed. You wouldn’t normally be investing much into Climb, but getting a speed innately is a great deal, and absolutely better than Sprinter. | |
Great racial spells. Bit of luck and nine lives are just a few of the good Catfolk-only spells you’ll find down in OCL405: Mystic Weavings. |
Sprinter should be traded out for Climber in 100% of cases. Cat’s Claws fits in well with natural attack-based Mysteries like Lunar, and Clever Cat subs face skills for exploration skills, if that’s more your speed.
Jokes about furries aside, Catfolk make exceptional Oracles, ticking all the right boxes of FCB, stat spread, skill bonuses, and movement modalities. They’re also highly thematic for Mysteries like Lunar and Shadow, although my flavor-favorite has still got to be the Solar Mystery build that revolves heavily around basking in the sun for hours on end.
Pro | Con |
Good stats. The hit to CON is rough. Consider Great Fortitude or Toughness if you plan to mix it up in combat. | No FCB. There’s a 3rd-party option to improve your concentration checks when casting [curse] spells, which would make you a great debuffer. It’s a balanced option, as Goblins get the same Paizo-official FCB for spells with the [fire] descriptor. |
Flat immunity to level drain. Negative levels can very quickly consign a PC to oblivion. Dhampir simply shrug them off at the first opportunity. | Light sensitivity. You’ll likely take Dayborn to mitigate this problem. |
Racial darkvision and low-light vision. I think most people treat darkvision as an upgrade to low-light vision, even if it’s technically a sidegrade. | Treated as Undead for Positive/Negative Energy effects. Buy a wand of inflict light wounds for your own cures, and one of cure for everyone else’s. |
Dayborn is a no-brainer to avoid getting dazzled by any location that’s not Seattle. Personally, I like Heir to Undying Nobility. Command isn’t great, but charm person certainly comes up much more often than detect undead.
Thank goodness you’ve got no FCB to be monkeying around with, because Dhampir need all the HP they can get their hands on. Some good resistances to disease, [mind-affecting], and level drain help elevate the race above a crowded field, however, and there’s no one I know who doesn’t secretly want to play a half-vampire.
Pro | Con |
Great attributes. DEX, CHA, and a penalty to WIS are all right where we want them. | Highly mediocre FCB. Nah, nah, nah. Just grab a skill rank or hit point, or swap it for Bound to Golarion and the Human FCB if you’re not intent on the Shadow Mystery. |
Plenty of defenses and SLAs. Shadow Blending is potent against opponents without darkvision, and the SLAs help you scout and disguise. | |
Darkvision and low-light vision. Would you expect anything less of the race most associated with darkness? |
Bound to Golarion would be great, but it conflicts with Shadow Magic, and you’re taking Shadow Magic if you’re a Shadow Oracle; if for some reason you’re playing a Fetchling who’s not a Shadow Oracle, sure, get Bound to Golarion and take the excellent Human FCB. Unnerving Gaze is my preferred alternative racial trait for debuffing; if you’re in the mood for a few more layers of defense, however, Gloom Shimmer is the way to go.
Call it tacky, call it trite, call it cliche: I like my Fetchlings best as Shadow Oracles. The +1 to Illusion spell save DCs from Shadow Magic is simply too good to pass up, and they can make the most hay out of concealment buffs and darkness tactics.
A Special Note
Previously, I would have said that Ifrit were the only elementally descended race that was worth your time as an Oracle, and left it at that. The Plane-Hopper’s Handbook introduced variant heritages for Ifrit, Oreads, Sylphs, and Undines, however, and some of them are well worth taking a look at. Sunsoul Ifrit are the STR-based complement to the DEX-based Ifrit chassis; Gemsoul Oreads make amazing Melee Stone Oracles, or Rock Throwing-based Stone Oracles, when given a belt of mighty hurling; lastly, both Smokesoul and Stormsoul Sylphs get bonuses to CHA, which is all we need to get rolling. Undine are, unfortunately, still out of luck on CHA bonuses—the Waves Oracle concept will have to wait a while longer. Oh, and Suli! Suli get bonuses to STR and CHA, perfect for our purposes, and can function admirably as elemental-themed Oracles.
Pro | Con |
Mostly Human. Take Mostly Human for the sweet, sweet FCB. | Affinities don’t apply to you. It’s bogus, I know, but you have neither a Domain nor a Bloodline. Leaves you free to trade away your Affinity racial trait, but it would really be a nice boon if it somehow applied to Mysteries. |
Fairly good stat array. The problem with Tieflings, Aasimar, and Geniekin is that you’re always locked into trying to convince your GM to allow variant heritages. Only Ifrit do Oracle well on their own. | Barring Mostly Human, mediocre FCB. But you’ll be taking Mostly Human, won’t you? |
Novel movement modes. The Geniekin races like to introduce novel movement modes into play: burrow for Oreads, flight for Sylphs, and swimming for Undine. | |
Racial darkvision. |
Throw away the various Affinities for whatever alternative trait seems best to you: Ifrit don’t have great replacements, but Crystalline Form and Gem Magic for Oread are excellent, and Breeze-Kissed is better than nothing for Sylphs. Undine can paddle on. Wildfire Heart, Granite Skin, and Like the Wind are all worthy replacements for your energy resistance, which can be duplicated—then surpassed—with resist energy. Nearly all geniekin should get used to taking Mostly Human in order to access the excellent Human FCB.
The Geniekin have more to recommend them to would-be Oracles than not; however, the non-Ifrit races are reliant on an open-minded GM. Beyond that, well, these races are the embodiments of the elements, as are Oracles—the fit is as natural as natural can be.
Pro | Con |
Wrecking Mysticism. Magical Tail is a flavorful, powerful feat for Kitsune; without bonus feats, however, it takes a long time to build into. The Wrecking Mysticism Curse gives you the option of swapping out bonus spells for Magic Tail, which in turn grants heaps of Enchantment SLAs that benefit from Kitsune Magic. Can’t go wrong, especially if your Mystery’s spell list is on the weaker side. | Low-light vision, but no racial darkvision. |
Great stat array. A penalty to STR is more easily shrugged off even than WIS or INT. | Stinky FCB. Blah. Kitsune were meant to be casters, not martial characters. /u/The31stEnding points out that I missed a FCB bonus available to all Kitsune players: ⅙ of a Magical Tail feat. Especially in conjunction with the Wrecking Mysticism curse, this FCB can easily turn a red into a blue. |
Kitsune Magic. Increases to Spell Save DCs or caster level should never, ever be passed over lightly. So long as you get your Magical Tails (and you simply must do that) you won’t lack for Enchantment spells. Many of the best debuffs and soft control spells on the Oracle list are Enchantment, anyway. | |
Disguise and face skills. Kitsune are hard to catch in a lie, between their shapeshifting and high CHA scores. |
Gregarious is an option if you’re positive that Face skills will be in higher demand than, say, avoiding AoOs. Otherwise, leave everything right where it is.
The foxfolk strike gold as Sorcerers and Oracles. No surprises there, right? As with Fetchlings, I think there’s a case to be made that the empirically best way to play a Kitsune is with the Wrecking Mysticism Curse, a Debuffing / Control / Support role, and whatever Mystery feels most comfortable to you.
Pro | Con |
Variant heritages. There are many more good variant heritages for Tieflings than there are for Aasimar. The Demon-Spawn (+2 STR/CHA, -2 INT), Div-Spawn (+2 DEX/CHA, -2 INT), Kyton-Spawn (+2 CON/CHA, -2 WIS), and Rakshasa-Spawn (+2 DEX/CHA, -2 WIS) are all excellent choices that provide unique SLAs and skill bonuses. | Shoddy stat distribution. This applies to the base Tiefling only. You're golden if you can take a variant. |
Human FCB, with Pass for Human. It locks you out of Scaled Skin, Maw or Claw, and other good Tiefling alternate racial traits, but those spells known are too good to pass up. | |
Racial darkvision. |
I'd recommend Prehensile Tail, Scaled Skin, and potentially Maw or Claw (if you're looking for another attack on a melee build) for just about any Tiefling. Too useful.
Variant heritages are a make-or-break deal for Oracles, as the base Tiefling doesn’t give you anything we want. If those are allowed, yes, Tieflings can be good casters, but don’t provide much else that the Geniekin or Aasimar couldn’t, potentially with a lot less in-game racism and prejudice.
Because of the tremendous flexibility of Mysteries, Curses, and the various archetypes available, there’s no such thing as a “standard” Oracle: the class can really become anything you want it to be, from an ironclad melee juggernaut to an elusive battlefield controller to a hard-hitting debuffer. The Cleric spell list limits your roles, of course—Oracles will never be able to blast quite as effectively as Sorcerers, for example. In this section, we’ll go over everything you need to get started in a particular combat role: the best Mysteries, the best Curses, the best spells, the best feats, the best races, the best everything for your playstyle. I’ll give my general rating of how well I think the role suits the Oracle, and then you can pursue the more in-depth information about Mysteries, spells, etc. later in the guide. I have (most helpfully, if I may toot my own horn) given rankings in each of the Mysteries of how well they facilitate each of these roles, so you can know exactly what you’re getting in each. Go ye therefore!
Role Description
The Venn diagram for the Anticaster role has quite a lot of overlap with other specialties. Why? Well, there are lots of ways to make a caster’s life hell. In order to be considered an Anticaster, I believe that a PC has to have some to many of the following elements: 1) the ability to nullify or outperform other characters against common caster tricks such as mirror image, blur, invisibility, deeper darkness, and obscuring mist; 2) access to novel movement modes that negate battlefield control spells like walls and pits; 3) bonuses to Will saves, increased AC vs. rays, Spell Resistance, or other defensive mechanisms; 4) the ability to close the distance with a caster, then prevent them from escaping with fly, dimension door, mislead, or other teleportation magic; 5) some means of punishing or penalizing defensive casting; and 6) access to debuffs that cause the staggered, stunned, nauseated, blinded, or paralyzed conditions in order to make offensive casting all but impossible. It’s not a foolproof formula, and dispel magic or break enchantment will cover most of your bases if you don’t want to dedicate much build space to wholeheartedly pursuing the role. Given that nearly every enemy at high levels is some brand of caster, however, you want to consider it carefully.
Pro | Con |
Casters are dangerous. Self-evident, no? Casters are by far the deadliest enemies you will fight in Pathfinder, capable of all manner of nasty surprises like baleful polymorph, hungry pit, maze, dominate person, etc. They’re higher-priority than other targets. | Takes a few more feats to do well. Step Up, Following Step, and Step Up and Strike should all be considered, as well as the Vital Strike line for those times when you need to take a move action. Oracles unfortunately don’t get access to Disruptive, but Nature Oracles can take Disruptive Companion for a little more defensive casting debuffing. |
You’re a full caster already. Nobody hunts casters like other casters! Casters have tools at their disposal that martials simply don’t, and when you’re up in a caster’s face, there’s very little difference between ¾ BAB and Full BAB. Your ability to self-buff, dispel and counterspell, maneuver around obstacles, prevent teleportation, and harry the invisible or ethereal gives you some major advantages. Plus, you’ve got a good Will save progression—beefy Fighters usually have trouble with those. |
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Hermit is hands-down the best Anticaster archetype, although it’s hard to distinguish what part of that is just Reclusive being an excellent magehunting Curse, and what part is the archetype itself.
Role Description
Blasters do exactly what you think they do: melt face with sheer damage output. Unfortunately, the Cleric spell list simply isn’t tailored for this combat role, and solid blasts only start to come online very late in the game, when Metamagic feats are widely available to increase your damage output. In the old Hammer-Arm-Anvil adage about combat roles, Oracles work best as the Arm or the Anvil, beefing up the hammer blow, softening the metal about to get hit, or else making sure that the Hammer reaches its intended target with minimal fuss. As an illustration of how ill-suited Oracles are to this role, most of the Mysteries that are good at Blasting are good only because they poach a bunch of spells from the Wizard/Sorcerer list. The issue with the Mysteries providing the Blasting potential, however, is that there’s not a lot of versatility in damage typing: Winter deals cold exclusively, Stone deals acid exclusively, Flame and Volcano deal fire exclusively, Wind deals electricity exclusively...you get the picture. I consider Blasting to be a sub-optimal role for Oracles; I’d look to the Sorcerer, Psychic, Magus, Alchemist, Wizard, Arcanist, or even Witch or Arcane Trickster before Oracle.
Pro | Con |
Blasts typically target weak Reflex saves. Fortitude saves are the highest saves by level, with Will falling somewhere in the middling ranges, and Reflex on the lowest echelon. You want to target enemies’ weakest points, and blasts usually do that. | Limited energy typing from Mystery spells. Winter will always outperform offensively in a Legacy of Fire game, of course, but for the most part Blasters need a flexibility in energy typing that simply can’t be found on the Cleric spell list. |
Debuff and control riders. Some blasts double as battlefield control spells; others leave behind nasty debuffs. Two-in-one spells are the definition of good use of the action economy, so yeah, we’ll take it. | Quickly outpaced by resistances, immunities, and SR. Anticaster defenses start really ramping up as you enter the double-digit levels, and most blasts will be subject to two to three layers of defenses before they do anything. Not great bang for your buck. |
Burns through resources quickly. Spontaneous casters like Sorcerers get more spells per day than prepared casters like Wizards. If you use every standard action to cast a blast spell, however, it won’t take long at all before you’re gasping for breath with all your spell slots gone—and this goes double if you’re modifying your blasts with Metamagic. Oracles don’t even have a blast cantrip, for crying out loud! |
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Ancient Lorekeeper can poach a few spells from the Wizard/Sorcerer list, but doesn’t pack quite enough power for our purposes in this role. All in all, I think Seeker or Spirit Guide is what we’re looking for; Seeker is more powerful if your Mystery’s bonus spells are good for blasting (lookin’ at you, Winter) but Spirit Guide can blast and still provide other powers on off days.
Role Description
Battlefield control abilities or spells are those that allow you to decide who gets to go where, when. Still confused? An example: let’s say you’ve got a Big Bad Evil Guy and a bunch of minions on the opposite side of a large room, with open space between you. This is a bad situation, right off the bat. Charge lanes are open, and it won’t take long for the minions to reach you, distracting your damage dealers while the BBEG buffs or blasts from the back of the room. Chaos in the ranks. But say you toss out a spell like ice storm in between you and the minions! Now an area 40 ft. wide is a no-go, charge lanes are closed, and minions have to decide whether they want to maneuver around the storm—potentially splitting the party or moving in single file next to the walls—or pass through it, risking damage and slippery conditions. Let’s take it a step further: after casting ice storm, you wall the BBEG off with a wall of clockwork. In addition to wasting the BBEG’s time or HP as he attempts to escape or dispel your wall of rotating knives, the minions are going about their business unbuffed, and you’re not getting blasted. Last step: you toss down ashen path and obscuring mist on your location before doing any of this. The BBEG can’t attack any of you directly, minions have no clear targets to shoot at or charge, all the while you suffer no tactical disadvantage.
Walls, pits, fogs, darkness, illusions, and other common caster tactics got their reputation honestly—by being excellent force multipliers. Minions aren’t much of a threat without their boss; the boss isn’t much of a threat without his minions. Dealing with obstacles wastes time and precious actions for enemies, while also giving you time to buff up. Combat isn’t really about fighting fair, and you don’t have to deal maximum HP damage through blasts to win a fight. All you have to do is force your opponent into enough suboptimal choices, and you’ve won. If you think about all the times that you’ve had to choose between the lesser of two evils in a combat (“Do I stay at the bottom of the pit, where I can’t help my allies, or do I attempt to climb out, wasting time and possibly falling, thereby dealing damage to myself?”) I can almost guarantee there’s a battlefield control spell on the other end of that dilemma. As a caveat, there’s sometimes considerable overlap between control and debuffing: blinding enemies denies them their DEX bonus to AC, for example, but also significantly limits their ability to navigate the battlefield or select optimal targets.
Pro | Con |
Pinnacle of the action economy. Full-BAB martial characters will always out-DPR you, so your best bet for making a contribution is to stack the odds ridiculously in favor of the martials. Funnel enemies through chokepoints, block line of sight from archers and casters, force a choice between the rock and the hard place—one single spell can do so much in the tide of a battle. | There...there really aren’t any cons. It’s good stuff. |
Doesn’t rely on failed saves, for the most part. Most battlefield control spells are from the Conjuration school, and a good number of Conjuration spells simply don’t allow a save. If you’re on the other side of a wall, there’s nothing to save against—it’s just there, between you and where you want to be. Another critical element that makes control strategies so effective. | |
Decent support on the spell list. Your list isn’t quite as well-suited for Control as the Wizard, say, but you’ve got more than enough walls, fogs, and darkness spells to get the job done. | |
Some damage potential. Many battlefield control spells like wall of fire, wall of clockwork, and haunting mists come with damage pre-packaged. This damage often does better than a blast anyway, so you should appreciate it! | |
Minimal spell use for the effect. The advantage that martials have is that they can do what they do all day long. So why are you burning spell slots trying to blast all day long? Set up the alley-oop for your martial allies with one or two control spells, then let them handle the beatdown. |
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Spirit Guide, if anything. The Oracle doesn’t need a lot of help with battlefield control.
Role Description
The “Bad Touch” playstyle has been a mainstay of offensively oriented Clerics for a long time. The Prime Directive of a debuffer is to make your opponents as puny as possible. There are many reasons you might want to do this: weak enemies can’t hurt your allies effectively, minimizing the need for emergency healing or expensive resurrection magic; weak enemies also tend to die more quickly, before they can ramp up breath weapons, nasty (Su) abilities, or other diseases, poisons, curses, and conditions of their own. The tie-in between Debuffing and Control is that some debuffs can also prevent enemies from moving or escaping effectively. The size and STR modifier of that huge-ass sword doesn’t matter if it can’t reach any of your teammates to hit them.
Again, I want to stress that combat success in Pathfinder is more about tempo than anything else. If you force your opponent to spend enough rounds whiffing on melee hits, battering through a wall, running from an illusion, escaping from a grapple, or hitting himself in the face while confused, you’ve won; the same objective can be accomplished from a different angle with team buffing, or hell, why not both? Establish a big enough differential in momentum—especially in later levels, when the side that acts first generally acts last—and no force on Golarion can stop you. Debuffing is perfect for grinding that momentum to a halt.
Pro | Con |
Permanent disability. The best debuffs on the Cleric list—bestow curse is the classic example that I use all the time—force the opponent into a permanent disability, at least until the effect is dispelled. Even if they run, teleport away, etc., enemies might not be able to rid themselves of your debuff right away. | Takes up more spell slots than a Control approach. Not many, but a few. |
Can flexibly target enemies’ weaknesses. Debuffs should ideally be chosen to target a variety of saves and provide a variety of effects. A good debuffer will know how to pinpoint an enemies’ weakest save, then select a spell that uncouples them from their most effective battle tactic. Facing a Cyclops with Fighter levels? Target Will, then deny mobility, blind, strip away its weapon, or instate a rough miss chance. You get the picture. | Relies heavily on failed saves. Metamagic feats like Persistent Spell can really, really mitigate this weakness, but the fact remains that a worst-of-two reroll mechanic doesn’t solve much if the opponent can pass a Fort save on a roll of a natural 2. |
Excellent spell list support. Your spell list couldn’t really be better for this role. Only the Witch does it better. |
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Dual-Cursed or Possessed Oracles are fantastic options here.
Role Description
Yes, full casters can be melee combatants! Sorcerers and Wizards really suck at it, between their crappy armor/weapon proficiencies and d6 hit dice; Clerics are a little better, bumping up to a d8 and medium armor proficiency, but otherwise lack support for heavy melee fighting. Oracles, though—Oracles do it right! You’ve got long-lasting armor Revelations in nearly every Mystery that can supplement or replace manufactured armor; you’ve got natural weapons, bonuses to hit or damage, and even CHA-to-AC mechanics that let you go all-in on STR and CHA during point buy. You won’t ever be as awe-inspiring on the battlefield as your martial brethren, but with full casting as a consolation prize, you shouldn’t be too disappointed. The Melee role often synchronizes pretty effortlessly with Anticaster tactics, too: all of the blue-ranked Mysteries in this category make excellent magehunters.
Pro | Con |
CHA-to-AC. Can’t overemphasize how cool this mechanic is. Reducing the need to pump DEX leaves you free to invest heavily in both STR and CHA, to the great delight of your damage output and casting. | No bonus feats. With the exception of Revelations like Weapon Mastery or Maneuver Mastery, you don’t get any feats for free, which locks you out of a lot of cool stuff. Even paths that are only mildly feat-intensive, like Finesse fighting, are out of reach for Oracles, as there’s no easy way to reach them until 5th level or later. |
Self-buffing synergy. Oracles rock at buffing themselves, pure and simple. With even a little prep time, Mysteries like Battle and Metal can become truly terrifying. | BAB-locked. Some ¾ BAB classes like Warpriests get to ignore their BAB when selecting feats. No such luck for you. This means that many of the coolest feat lines are on a shelf where you can’t reach them. Sorry, boo. |
Minimal feat investment. All a melee fighter really needs to be effective is Power Attack. Sure, you can add Cleave, Vital Strike, or passive damage buffs like Big Game Hunter later, but PA is really the core of the playstyle. This minimal investment usually leaves you free to branch out into other playstyles like Tanking or Anticaster tactics. | |
Good positioning for touch-range buffing/debuffing. A lot of good debuffs, heals, buffs, etc. only function at a range of touch. Because Melee Oracles are already comfortable going toe to toe, there’s no need to change positioning mid-combat. |
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Warsighted deserves a mention, but for me it’s Spirit Guide and Hermit that take the cake. Spirit Guide can help you shore up your self-buffing even more (Mammoth makes for a great, Shaman-only addition to your capabilities, but Ancestors and Battle are also viable) and Hermit gives you a bunch of mobility behind enemy lines.
Role Description
Funnily enough, there’s not much indication that Oracles were meant to be ranged combatants. First, you’ve got no martial weapon proficiency without a Revelation or feat, for the most part ruling out weapons like composite longbows that occupy the core position of a ranged combat playstyle. Second, you’ve got no bonus feats—an even bigger deal here than in the Melee role, as ranged combat takes up far more feats than does melee combat. Precise Shot, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, and Rapid Reload (if you’re shooting a crossbow) are a minimum, and barging through four feats eats up a significant portion of the Oracle’s allotment. Third—and compounding your weapon proficiency crisis—is the fact that you don’t have the BAB to take advantage of feats like Deadly Aim/Rapid Shot or the casting proficiency to pick up Arcane Strike, severely handicapping your damage output. The exception here might be the Wood Mystery, which can select Wood Bond to boost to-hit with bows and crossbows up to full-BAB levels, albeit with the caveat that you’ll be shit out of luck if, say, an allied Bard starts using Inspire Courage (competence bonuses don’t stack, remember). The Stone Mystery can select Rock Throwing, which should probably lead you to a belt of mighty hurling and high STR scores, at least in the later game. There’s no shortage of flight Revelations among the Oracle Mysteries, which you’d think that would translate to ranged prowess; the hard math of feat selection and BAB, however, has no mercy on Pathfinder’s more martially restricted classes.
Pro | Con |
Keeps you out of melee range. Oracles and Clerics may be able to take a hit better than a Wizard, but that doesn’t mean they should deliberately call trouble down on their heads. Staying out of melee means staying out of most devastating attacks, melee touch spells, and auras. | No significant benefit to gaining more attacks. Classes like Inquisitor want as many bonus attacks as possible, because more attacks = more Bane damage. Oracles don’t have the same incentives beyond more chances to hit. |
Support from the spell and Revelation lists. Some of the best self-buff spells affect only melee attacks, but many help out ranged characters, too. And don’t forget all the flight Revelations out there! Easy to get out of melee range with those. | High feat investment. Being good at ranged combat means a lot of feats. Precise Shot, Point Blank Shot, and Rapid Shot are necessary at the very least, and Rapid Reload is also a must if you’re a crossbow user. |
Restricted to crossbows, pending feat selection. Speaking of which, you don’t actually have access to longbows or shortbows, barring some means of acquiring martial weapon proficiency. Crossbows aren’t bad; however, they require even more feat investment than longbows to become useable on a regular basis. |
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Hermit works even better here than for Melee or Anticaster Oracles, given that your whole schtick is staying away from other people.
Role Description
At least in my mental schema, “Recon” can mean one of two things. First, there’s the classic sneaking and scouting. This path is always fraught with danger, at least a little bit, because you can’t take Clanky McFullplate along with you, and you’re in trouble if you get caught by an enemy with no support from your team. The Dice Gods being what they are, there are bound to be some unlucky Stealth checks of yours that coincide with excellent Perception checks from your enemies, and then it’s all over but the inevitable hue and cry. (This problem is also typically compounded by players and GMs not applying Stealth and Perception penalties properly.) Now, specific Mysteries—and here I’m thinking of Shadow in particular—can certainly challenge this paradigm, and Oracles are in some ways much better suited to scouting than the traditional Rogues because of their ability to cast their way out of sticky situations while not being significantly squishier. Still, it’s less foolproof even with heavy specialization than I’d like it to be.
The second route available to you, and one that Oracles receive a lot of help for on both the Revelation and spell lists, is casting spells from the Divination school to spy on enemies, get answers to questions, and learn information without ever actually coming into contact with danger. Most Mysteries have at least one Revelation that lets you use a Divination spell for free 1/day, and other Mysteries like Occult lean all the way into mystic reconnaissance. Any effect that directly affects an enemy only works pending a Will save, of course, and GMs being sneaky sons of bitches (I should know—I’m a sneaky son of a bitch myself) are under no obligation to give you useful information about what your Divinations reveal. Before you go all-in on scrying and augury, it might be a good idea to sit down with your GM for a frank conversation about how willing they’re going to be to feed you metainformation about your foes. If the answer is “Absolutely willing, as long as my monsters get to spy on you, too,” then sure, up your ante. If the answer is less encouraging, then you need to look elsewhere for your character’s role. One potential way to turn around your GM’s opinion of Divination magic is to give them a list of questions, topics, or enemies that you intend to find out about in your next session. That way, you don’t force your GM to improvise useful scenes or answers—they can pick and choose which bits you get without feeling on the spot.
Pro | Con |
(Divination) Scry from a safe distance. A very few spells excepted, you’re not subject to retaliation for any of your Divination spells. | (Divination) No combat utility. Don’t get me wrong, gathering better intel about your enemies is a valuable and viable strategy, but it doesn’t directly help you kill them. |
(Divination) Try, and try again. Debuffing and blasting spells get only one chance to succeed against enemies, whereas Divination will often be used every day; the law of mass action will surely drive a few of those saves into being failures. | (Divination) Information quality depends on your GM. Not every GM wants to root around in the old brain-house for a cinematic description of what you see when you cast legend lore. Can you blame us? Again, talking to your GM beforehand will mitigate this problem immensely. |
(Stealth) Plenty of support from armor enchantments and, in some cases, Revelations. Only Shadow truly has the chops to sneak by monsters, but Wind can fly you to a good vantage point, Streets can set up illusions while you monitor enemies, and Intrigue’s disguise abilities can fool most Humanoids. Check out the shadow and creeping armor enchantments for better Stealth scores. | (Stealth) Extravisual senses will screw you every time. Scent, blindsight, tremorsense, etc. can royally mess up your day, and they become more and more common as your PC grows up. |
(Stealth) Sometimes you fail your Stealth check. Now, if every GM followed the Perception skill rules strictly, you might be in a better situation, but those rules are tedious, and many GMs will just say that a low roll means a failed Stealth check. Not always fair. :( |
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Too many, really. Enlightened Philosopher is the best at mundane scouting, but Cyclopean Seer, Keleshite Prophet, and Seer all place a heavy emphasis on Divination magic. I’d recommend Cyclopean Seer most highly, followed by Seer and then Keleshite Prophet.
Role Description
INT-based classes are normally the skill monkeys of the Pathfinder world, thanks to their large number of skill ranks and innate mastery of useful checks like Spellcraft and the body of Knowledge skills. Oracles don’t receive a large number of skill ranks; compounding your low floor is the fact that you can’t boost every stat at point buy, so INT is more than likely going to be a dump stat for most Oracles. Some exceptions exist, of course: Lore Oracles can add points onto their INT score through the Mental Acuity Revelation, and archetypes like Ancient Lorekeeper and races like Elves can and do make a splash as Oracles. It’s not a role that the class gives wide support for, however, so you’ll need to play either an Ancestor or Lore Oracle to make skill mastery a workable role, and even then, you’ll get there by emulating INT-based classes. Plenty of reasons to want to be good at skills: first, they’re an infinite resource, so you have some way to contribute when spell slots start to run dry. Second, an ounce of guidance, direction, or knowledge is worth a pound of action. If you can spot the secret door, identify the screaming enemy that just popped up, or piece together clues on who murdered the king, your ensuing actions are much more likely to yield positive results instead of missed treasure, dismemberment, or civil war.
Pro | Con |
Non-depleting resource. Skills are excellent investments because they can be used at any time, all day long. They may not be able to accomplish many things that spells can, but they make great adjuncts. | Never quite as good as INT-based classes. Unfortunately, Rogues, Alchemists, Occultists, Investigators, and Wizards are always going to be better at skill use than Oracles, at least without help from spells. Them’s the breaks. |
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Enlightened Philosopher and Ancient Lorekeeper both do modestly in the Skills arena; it’s the Psychic Searcher, however, that really outperforms—Inspiration and Psychic Talents simply boost your efficacy too much.
Role Description
Ah, summoning. So good that Paizo had to specifically go back and nerf the class that was built around it. Nearly any caster can summon, but it takes a bit of specialization to summon well: Spell Focus (Conjuration), Augment Summoning or Evolved Summons, and Summon [Alignment] Monster are probably the three core feats I’d pick in order to get the essentials out of the way, though of course more is possible beyond that. Summons are ridiculously good for a few reasons: first, summoned monsters act as meat shields, and in later levels are often immune or resistant to many of the effects that you’d hate to be targeted with personally. Once they go back to their home plane, they take all the damage they sustained with them, which then translates to damage that you don’t have to reactively heal. Second, summons come with their own actions. Make a Pathfinder PC as strong as you like—you’re never going to have more than one standard, move, and swift action in a round. Summons reshape the action economy in your favor. Third, summons at higher levels tend to come with their own pools of resources for you to exploit, usually spells and SLAs. In some cases these resources are fairly uninspiring, but in other cases you can start to rack up serious healing or buffs; /u/CMEast points out that buffs don’t last beyond when summoned creatures disappear, but healing certainly does. Fourth and most importantly for spontaneous casters, summons are flexible. You don’t just choose one monster that you always summon: when you choose a summon monster spell, you get access to every monster on the list, which can then be expanded through feats. Assuming you know your Bestiary entries well enough (and I can’t recommend the Master Summoner app from Redrazors highly enough for this purpose) you’ll always have the perfect tool for the combat at hand.
Summoning, at least for Oracles and Clerics, also includes the animate dead spell and its necromantic cousins, as well as the planar ally suite. Undead in the Pathfinder universe are always Evil-aligned, and the revised version of the Juju Mystery removed any wording suggesting that Undead could be Good- or Neutral-aligned. Sorry, white necromancers, it just doesn’t play here. Undead serve you permanently—a major advantage—but otherwise tend to be a bit weaker, slower, and less versatile than normal summons. You also have to expend material components to raise the dead, a feature shared with planar ally. The planar ally spells are...complicated. They always cost quite a bit of money, and they always last until the task you set is completed—best used for end-of-book boss fights, major heists, the like. Summoning Good-aligned Outsiders is also safest, as these creatures are the least likely to want your head as punishment for your impudence.
Pro | Con |
Breaks the action economy in your favor. As mentioned above, putting more summons on the field gives you more actions, which are the One True Commodity in combat. Accrue a large enough action advantage, and the day is yours. | Mastery takes high feat investment. Just as anyone can whistle, anyone can summon monster. If you want to get good at summoning, however, you’ll need Spell Focus (Conjuration), Augment Summoning, Summon [Alignment] Monster, perhaps Versatile/Evolved/Superior Summons, and more. You can go down the rabbit hole as deeply as you’d like. |
Summons soak damage and aggro. This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: if a summoned creature takes damage, you don’t take that damage. Same goes for other nasty effects like level or ability drain. | Short duration, at least for summon monster. Most summons last only rounds/level. One encounter = one spell slot. Animated Undead and planar allies last longer, of course, but you’re paying handsomely for that privilege. |
The definition of flexibility. You can summon different creatures every time you cast summon monster. If you know the list of available options intimately, you’ll never lack for the perfect tool, whether what you need is flight, touch attacks, DR penetration, energy damage, or anything else. | |
Use their resources, not yours. Summon monster lasts for only a short time, so a reasonable use of the spell slot is to summon creatures with SLAs or spell slots that can heal you, buff you, etc., then let them return home. (/u/CMEast points out that buffs don’t persist past when summons disappear, but healing still does!) | |
Buffs affect your summons, too. The spell list below includes spells that strictly fulfill your Summoning role, but any Support spells you pick up can be used on summons, too, making them even more formidable on the battlefield. |
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Spirit Guide lends itself fairly well to this style, as you’re able to access the Bones Spirit and others that help you augment your summons. Otherwise, just avoid trading away your feats, and you’ll be fine.
Role Description
In this guide, any effect that makes your team more powerful falls under the Support heading. Now, Clerics don’t have any trouble with this, as the spell list lends itself naturally to amazing buffs like righteous might, blood rage, tears to wine, communal resist energy, and prayer. Apart from perhaps the Extend Spell metamagic feat (or associated metamagic rod) there’s really nothing else needed to get started with this role, and it benefits from not needing to beat enemies’ saves in order to function. What else can I say? Oracles and Clerics were born to buff.
Pro | Con |
You’re already great at it, so there’s low opportunity cost. You’d be picking up many of the best Support spells and Revelations anyway; all Oracles can and should do some amount of buffing. | Honestly? No cons at all. Solid all the way around. |
Effortlessly improves team survivability. Support Oracles are the Arm in the Arm-Hammer-Anvil model, beefing everyone else up for crushing attacks or keeping them alive long enough to batter away at foes. A little buffing goes a very long way in Pathfinder. | |
Doesn’t rely on failed saves. Your spells are focused on allies, not enemies, so there’s no call to invest heavily in your Spell Save DCs or SR penetration. | |
Makes your team love you. Everybody loves buffs and healing. Everybody will love you for providing said buffs and healing. |
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Pei-Zin Practitioner jumps out immediately; it’s your best investment if you’re looking to heal and remove status conditions.
Role Description
The old adage is that there’s no way to tank in Pathfinder, and that’s true in the World of Warcraft sense—there is indeed no surefire way to prevent enemies from attacking your allies. Oh, you can incentivize people to attack you (see the Come and Get Me feat that Barbarians can take) or disincentivize them from attacking others (see the Cavalier’s Challenge feature), but no true aggro-soak ability exists in anything Paizo’s put out over the years. Here, then, we’ll focus on the modern military sense of a tank: an ironclad fighter that’s extraordinarily resilient and tough to take down. In some ways, Oracles are pretty flimsy tanks. Lower HP and CMD scores, bad Fortitude save progression, and proficiency with medium armor aren’t exactly awe-inspiring, compared with the competition. And it’s true, you won’t hold up to direct fire as well as a Fighter or a Barbarian or even a Ranger. What you will do is surprise enemies with a lot of unexpected strengths. Targeted by an effect that forces a Will save? Surprise! That’s your best save. Tossed into a pit? Forget that, you can dispel it or cast shield of wings to fly out. Bad condition got you retching? Shake it off, T-Swift—you’ve got cleanse. Oracles don’t make the world’s best tanks in the classical sense, but the addition of full casting to respectable off-tank abilities really ratchets up what you’re capable of. Break yourself upon me!
Pro | Con |
It’s more survivability. Do you need an explanation? | Buff spells are for me. Because you aren’t as innately hardy as other martial allies, it will become evident very quickly that you need to self-buff if you want to survive. Which isn’t bad, necessarily, but your team might get peeved if you lose a fight and you, the buffing class, had no buffs to pass around. |
Element of surprise. Just as you have a preconceived notion of what constitutes a tank, your GM and enemies will have a preconceived notion of what constitutes a tank. And you, my shining star, will break free of every one of those notions. | Relies on armor proficiencies or Revelations. Medium armor proficiency alone won’t cut it: you need either heavy armor proficiency (Battle, Godclaw, Metal) some good armor Revelations (Ancestor, Ascetic, Heavens, Shadow, Wind, etc.) or CHA-to-AC powers (Lore, Nature) to really stand a chance as a tank. Mysteries like Time that have constant defensive abilities should try to avoid this role. |
Not uniquely built for classic tanking. A d8 hit die and poor Fortitude save progression have their limitations. |
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Hermit again takes the cake, although Warsighted adds a layer of versatility and flexibility to the overall picture.
Role Description
I know, I know, it’s a nebulous role. What the heck is “utility,” anyway? I scarcely know myself, but I suppose if you put a gun to my head and forced me to define it, I’d say it’s the ability to flexibly provide what’s needed in any given scenario. Mysteries like Shadow get the ultimate nod here, because their host of shadow [magic school] spells can become damn near anything you want them to be. Ancestor, meanwhile, can buff, debuff, scout, move objects with telekinesis, attack incorporeal enemies, etc. Like I said: flexibility is what it’s about here.
Pro | Con |
Lends a bit of versatility to the mix. That goal is self-explanatory, right? | Hard to really “build for.” You’re always going to be a spontaneous caster with static feats and Revelations; you’re not a Brawler (unless you’re Warsighted!) and you’re not an Arcanist. Utility mostly comes down to your ability to use existing abilities creatively. |
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Spirit Guide, hands down. Don’t even bother looking elsewhere.
Mysteries and Curses are what make an Oracle who they are. Whereas Clerics receive their powers from deities, and Druids receive their powers from nature itself, Oracles receive their powers from concepts, ideals, themes that govern the arc of the world. Whereas a Cleric of Sarenrae might love her goddess for the warm fire and cleansing light that she brings, an Oracle might be dedicated to the fire or the light itself, transcending the petty squabbles of deities. To be an Oracle is to dedicate oneself to an immortal mystery of the world, and dedication always bears fruit.
Regardless of their provenance, all Mysteries confer several benefits: the greatest among these are abilities called Revelations. Oracles receive these gifts at 1st, 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th levels—only six throughout their entire lifespan. These thematic class features are typically quite a bit more powerful than feats, and should be considered carefully! Second, all Mysteries grant bonus spells suited to the unifying concept of the Mystery. In some cases, these spells will be on the Oracle/Cleric spell list already, and simply save you from spending a spell known to learn them; in other cases, the spells will come from outside your spell list. Either way, spells granted by your Mystery will always be available, so it’s important that they serve you well. Third and finally, all Mysteries grant bonus class skills to supplement what is available to the Oracle chassis. As with spells, these skills may be useful or not, but almost always hint at a role that Oracles serving that Mystery would excel at playing. Alright: let’s dive in.
Role
Ancestor Oracles get access to a large number of Divination and team-/self-buffing spells, melee combat and skill bonuses, and spells/Revelations that allow them to become incorporeal or ethereal. They operate best in a Support role, providing guidance on what adventuring steps to take next, buffing teammates and letting them take the spotlight, helping out in combat as a backup combatant and summoner, and engaging in proactive problem-solving for the team.
Skills, Support, Utility > Anticaster, Melee, Recon, Tank > Control, Summoning > Blasting, Debuffing, Ranged
Bonus Skills
Oracles of the Ancestor mystery receive access to Linguistics and all Knowledge skills. Linguistics is not, generally speaking, a well-regarded skill, but it can have a use for those who wish to become the party face without investing too many skill points: with the Skill Focus (Linguistics) and Orator feats, an Oracle can use Linguistics in place of most social checks. This feat path essentially triples your skill point investment by allowing one point in Linguistics to serve as a point in Bluff, Intimidate, and Diplomacy—not to mention getting access to new languages without using tongues. Adding every Knowledge skill to the class list is also a tremendous perk; despite not having many skill points to work with, Oracles can reliably max out one or two Knowledges, and Ancestor Oracles would be well advised to try to get at least a +1 INT modifier to take advantage of their skills. Higher INT scores also boost Linguistics for synergy with the Orator feat.
Bonus Spells
(2) Unseen Servant: Unseen servant is a pretty nifty quality of life spell that has “real world” applications setting off the occasional trap, picking up unattended objects, and giving you foot massages at the end of a day. The spell isn’t on your list, so hurrah for poaching some arcane spells!
(4) Spiritual Weapon: Spiritual weapon is a nice little spell. As a [force] effect, it hits incorporeal creatures with no loss in power and penetrates DR. Its power and accuracy will never be high, but it will continue to plug away at enemies with no further action input from you, similar to summoned creatures. I call that a win.
(6) Heroism: Another excellent buff that’s not naturally on your list! Heroism gives somewhat rare (Morale) bonuses (well, rare unless you have a Bard on the team) making it scale nicely throughout the levels. It’s got a long duration, too. Perfect.
(8) Spiritual Ally: Casper the Friendly Ghost flanks, attacks incorporeals for full Force damage, and generally helps out around the battlefield. Great pseudo-summon.
(10) Telekinesis: Telekinesis is a wonderfully versatile spell that Clerics and Oracles certainly don’t get on their spell list. Blasting, combat maneuvers, and slowly shunting enemies off cliffs are all possible with this spell, although the concentration does get hard to sustain sometimes. Good get.
(12) Greater Heroism: Just like little brother, but better. Can’t say no to that!
(14) Ethereal Jaunt: Handy spell for progressing laterally through dungeons, infiltrating hard-to-reach areas, attacking incorporeal beings directly, and much, much more. By the time you get it, you’ll be able to move about 300 ft. while invisible and ethereal—that’s a lot of mobility to work with.
(16) Vision: I’d rather have legend lore, to be honest—how often do you need to recall a bunch of legendary information about a place or person within the span of a standard action? It could be useful in some instances, just not every day.
(18) Astral Projection: By the time you reach 9th-level spells, you will basically be a deity yourself, and deities get up to all kinds of planar hijinks! Travel via astral projection is generally safer than via plane shift, because you’re not physically entering the new plane; any damage you take, even if it’s enough to kill you, only wakes your original body up and deals out two negative levels. That said, your enemies at this level also tend to be of deity-level power, so you need to protect your slumbering body extraordinarily well if you feel there’s a chance that others will come after you while you sleep. If someone cuts that silver cord, it’s game over. If you die in the Matrix, you die in real life.
Revelations
(1) Ancestral Weapon: Ancestor Oracles have at least a decent chance of holding their own in melee, so this Revelation isn’t entirely out of the question. The bonus progresses slowly, though, and ghost touch isn’t an expensive enchantment to get. In general, I’d say you’re better off sticking with your normal weaponry.
(1) Blood of Heroes: It’s basically a self-only heroism, and won’t stack with that spell. Heroism is good, and you want it on you as much as possible, but this Revelation is still probably slightly lower priority. If you want it, getting it at 7th level would be my recommendation. Rating probably goes down to yellow if you have other sources of (Morale) bonuses that are reliably available, such as a Bard teammate with good hope.
(1) Phantom Touch: There’s no save attached, I suppose, and it does last for a while, but that’s about all that can said for Phantom Touch. Shaken is, overall, a minor inconvenience for enemies. Not really worth one of your precious Revelations.
(1) Sacred Council: Untyped bonuses are good, multiple uses per day are good. The only issue is that the bonus is small, doesn’t scale, lasts only 1 round, and takes a move action to activate. Out-of-combat skill bonuses are probably the best application.
(1) Spirit Shield: It would take you a while to fully supplant normal armor with Spirit Shield, but the armor bonus is strong and can be used in 1-hour increments, making it easy to slap on at the start of a fight. Getting total concealment from rays and ranged attacks at 13th level is a gamechanger; at some point, AC stops mattering, but a miss chance is always a miss chance.
(1) Voice of the Grave: Nice little quality of life Revelation. You’ll never rue the opportunity to ask your corpses a few questions.
(1) Wisdom of the Ancestors: Another strong contender for 7th level, Wisdom of the Ancestors gives you access to great Divination magic, without all the finicky and costly spell components. Plus, how flavorful is this ability!?
(7) Storm of Souls: Blasting isn’t the greatest use of actions in Pathfinder, and the damage isn’t fabulous. Still, a 20-ft. radius is quite large, and Undead are common enough that you might want this. Yellow if you really don’t envision yourself fighting many Undead. Ancestor Oracles are buffers, back-up melee combatants, and skill monkeys, but not great blasters.
(11) Spirit of the Warrior: Ho ho ho. Ho ho. Now here’s a buff! For a few precious seconds, you will be damn near untouchable. Use this power when you’re up against the BBEG of the day and want to get your hands dirty.
(11) Spirit Walk: It’s ethereal jaunt, packaged as a Revelation. Just as good, too—you should definitely be okay with getting access to a 7th-level spell for free several times per day.
Role
Apocalypse Oracles were clearly designed with a Blasting role in mind, but their Revelations don’t provide any support for that role, instead focusing on combat skills and maneuvers that are unlikely to be useful without heftier defensive abilities. Overall, one of the weakest Mysteries, along with Reaper.
Anticaster, Blasting, Control, Melee, Tank > Debuffing, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning, Support, Utility
Bonus Skills
Apocalypse Oracles get Bluff, Disguise, Stealth, and Survival added to their skill list. I won’t really pretend to understand the theme here—Survival I suppose I get in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, but Disguise? Stealth? I dunno, seems like doomsayers worshipping the end of existence wouldn’t care too much about subtlety. Stealth and Bluff are probably your best gets here.
Bonus Spells
(2) Deathwatch: Thematically appropriate, mechanically questionable. Deathwatch doesn’t really tell you anything you couldn’t find out with a good Perception check.
(4) Summon Swarm: There’s some debuffing potential here, some damage potential, certainly. You’ve got to be on the lookout for the swarm attacking your own allies, although I suppose an Apocalypse Oracle would be just fine with that outcome. The swarm is, if nothing else, an effective damage sponge, so put it out there and let enemies waste turns trying to hit it with weapons.
(6) Explosive Runes: Relatively weak blast. No save for those in the immediate vicinity, and [force] damage ignores DR, but how often do you expect to be able to spring this trap?
(8) Ice Storm: It’s middling damage, but the spell does receive some credit for providing battlefield control in the form of difficult terrain. No save, either.
(10) Insect Plague: A bunch of CR 3 creatures aren’t likely to do much damage. And they’re stationary. And enemies will auto-succeed on the save vs. poison to deal DEX damage. Never liked this spell.
(12) Circle of Death: No creature with 9+ HD can be affected, and you get it at 12th level. Silly, silly, silly.
(14) Vision: See the Ancestor Mystery: good information to have, but not worth the fatigued condition you take when “upgrading” the spell from legend lore.
(16) Incendiary Cloud: It’s battlefield control and area damage rolled into one. It’s a damn shame you have to wait until 16th level to get something good, though.
(18) Meteor Swarm: You can cluster your meteors to deal some decent damage, but as with incendiary cloud, this is 100% fire damage, and many enemies at this level will be outright immune. Thank goodness you only apply resistance at the end.
Revelations
(1) Defy Elements: The resistance won’t stack to anything phenomenal unless your campaign revolves around a single energy type (Reign of Winter, certainly, or I guess something like Legacy of Fire) but it’s still a nice protective ability. Stacking it on top of racial resistances would be a good idea.
(1) Dust to Dust: Sunder has its problems as a maneuver, starting with the fact that it breaks or destroys the equipment that you’re going to be using or selling right after you kill the people carrying it. I’m not sure whether Dust to Dust bypasses hardness, but it probably should—iron and steel weapons have a hardness of 10, which means that you could very easily use this ability, only to have the damage get completely soaked up.
(1) Erosion Touch: Ah, much better. If you’re going to Sunder, you might as well do it properly. Erosion Touch is cool because it can also destroy walls, doors, etc., allowing you to bypass obstacles or progress laterally through dungeons.
(1) Near Death: Insight bonuses are relatively hard to come by, and the bonuses definitely apply to good things, [mind-affecting] effects being at the top of the list. I wish the bonus were larger, but beggars can’t be choosers. (Unless they’re begging for more choices.)
(1) Pass the Torch: As resistances, HP, and the relative dangers of being in melee range scale with level, this Revelation will see less and less use. Just too weak. It would probably be pretty good—if dangerous to use—in the early levels, though.
(1) Spell Blast: First, you’ve got to roll a Natural 20 on an attack roll with a spell. Then, you’ve got to confirm that attack roll. Then, you’ve got to succeed at a CMB check against the enemy. And remember, you’ve got ¾ BAB and are unlikely to have great STR scores. You’ll be able to count on one hand the number of times this Revelation does a damn thing in your campaign.
(1) Unstoppable Overrun: The issue with the Apocalypse Mystery is that, unlike Battle, you don’t get any kind of defensive abilities to make being in melee a smart move. You’ve got Pass the Torch and a couple of blasting spells; that does not a combat maneuver specialist make.
(5) Power of the Fallen: I like it, actually. You get it plenty of times per day, death knell lasts a while, and you can pick the attribute that won’t overlap with someone’s existing Enhancement bonuses to physical stats. It’s not gamechanging, but decent.
(7) Destructive Roots: On principle, I’m in favor of any ability that allows you to manipulate the battlefield, but Destructive Roots is slow, requires concentration and continued move action input, and requires you to stand still. It might be useful for setting up an “oh no no” zone for you to cast from safely, but determined enemies will run, fly, or teleport in, and then you’ll be trapped in the middle of your own difficult terrain.
(7) Doomsayer: I promise that there are more effective ways to debuff enemies than Doomsayer. As with Destructive Roots, you’re sacrificing a huge portion of your action economy for a weak effect.
Role
Ascetic Oracles do their best work in a hybrid Melee/Debuffing role, where their unarmed and Spellstrike abilities can operate at max capacity. Oracular Spellstrike is really the lynchpin of the Mystery, enabling Ascetics to deliver crippling melee touch debuff spells as part of a flurry of unarmed attacks. There are a couple exploration and utility spells in the bunch, but the majority of the Mystery’s spells and Revelations go toward increasing your offenses and defenses in combat. Take note that, unlike the Monk, you’re not required to wear zero armor in order to get your bonuses (except the Fleet Revelation—that requires no armor) so it’s likely that you’ll actually want to wear medium armor, leave DEX somewhat low, and focus on STR, CON, and CHA. As an aside, Ascetic really benefits from a one- or two-level dip in Scaled Fist Unchained Monk, which nets you better BAB, a better Fortitude save, a bunch of bonus feats (including Dragon Style!), and a Flurry that actually scales well with your level.
Melee > Debuffing, Tank, Utility > Anticaster > Blasting, Control, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning, Support
Bonus Skills
Ascetic Oracles get some of the more standard Monk skills added to their list. Escape Artist and Acrobatics are eternally useful for classes who don’t have high CMD or AC, respectively, and Climb and Swim are the original one-rank wonders.
Bonus Spells
(2) Stone Fist: You’ll need stone fist before you get access to Improved Unarmed Strike, as many of the Revelations in Ascetic are focused around unarmed strikes, and you can’t go around provoking AoOs. Drops off pretty steeply in usefulness after you get IUS.
(4) Glide: Falls, crits, drowning, and a couple other things are the major death dealers in Pathfinder. If you envision yourself getting into a fight anywhere near a high drop, glide is your first cast, no questions asked. Becomes a little less important if you grab the Absence of Form Revelation.
(6) Force Punch: Dealing with incorporeal creatures is an enormous pain, but force damage hurts them normally. Having a spell in your back pocket to push someone away from you (and potentially into obstacles, off cliffs, etc.) is extraordinarily useful when paired with Oracular Spellstrike.
(8) Ethereal Fists: And now you can really beat the shit out of ghosts. Given how lethal incorporeal encounters can be, I’m not the slightest bit mad that you’ve got several options for dealing with them.
(10) Contact Other Plane: Oracles have a CHA focus, not an INT focus, so your ability to hit that DC will never go up substantially. And it hurts—there is absolutely no way that you can afford having your CHA and INT scores reduced to 8 for weeks at a time. Do yourself a favor and forget that you have this spell available to you.
(12) Legend Lore: You’ll almost never need vision, your 7th-level spell, when you have legend lore. It’s a good downtime spell, useful for GMs to pass along plot hints or background info that you wouldn’t have otherwise, etc., but otherwise harmless. Because it’s a downtime spell, you’ll never really need the speed that vision affords.
(14) Vision: As I mentioned above, you don’t really need to get legend lore’s information within the space of a standard action.
(16) Frightful Aspect: Amazing self-buff for melee Oracles, which Ascetic Oracles will always be. At minutes/level, you probably won’t be able to stack it across multiple combats, but it’s still an excellent end-of-campaign spell.
(18) Iron Body: Another tank spell that makes you very sturdy, especially when combined with frightful aspect.
Revelations
(1) Absence of Body: It’s not strictly bad, just unnecessary. There’s a reason many Monks try to trade away the same ability.
(1) Absence of Form: Getting a little warmer. Falls are never good, so having a means of dealing with them perpetually at your fingertips is nice. Less essential than other Revelations.
(1) Ascetic Armor: Ascetic Armor will most likely be your 3rd-level Revelation choice. Oracular Spellstrike is a must-have at 7th, and Martial Disciple is needed at 1st. Like all armor Revelations, it starts as a relatively tame ability and gains quickly in usefulness. The DR comes a little later, but will actually scale well into endgame—because it’s not DR/Magic, Alignment, Adamantine, etc., enemies won’t be able to blow past it with high enhancement bonuses.
(1) Fleet: Extra speed has never been a bad thing, right? You have to be unarmored in order to get the speed boost, which in your case means taking Ascetic Armor. Up to you whether you’d like to wear armor and ignore those two Revelations, or take them and lean into the unarmored fighting style.
(1) Martial Disciple: Pretty essential to gameplay as an Ascetic Oracle. You’ve got lots of spells that improve unarmed combat; you’ve got Oracular Spellstrike, which only works with unarmed attacks; it makes sense that you would want a reliable means of improving your unarmed strike damage. Unless you have a really compelling reason, this is your 1st-level Revelation.
(1) Rapid Convalescence: With full access to the Cleric spell list, Rapid Convalescence is less appealing than it would be for a martial character. As with Absence of Body, not bad, just unnecessary.
(7) Oracular Spellstrike: Spellstrike is an amazing ability. Magi specialize in damage spells, of course, but you, you with the Bad Touch Cleric spell list at your disposal, you can specialize in debuffing. How’d you like to be able to do your full unarmed strike damage combined with bestow curse? That’s just for starters. Do note that you lack Spell Combat (thanks, /u/orangenakor!) so you can’t full attack and cast; even so, Oracular Spellstrike keeps your damage output up there even while you waste foes.
(11) Spell Deflection: You don’t have to sacrifice spells in order to counterspell, which is cool, but depending on how you’re built, the DC might be difficult to hit, and you can’t counterspell all spells with this ability. By 11th level, however, you’ve probably sucked the marrow from your Revelation list. Might as well get something a little more niche!
Role
Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way first: yes, I wrote the Augmented Mystery, and yes, it’s third-party. Wait, wait, don’t slam the door, baby! Let’s try to work this out. As far as I know, the idea for the Augmented Mystery came to me in a dream. I keep a small notepad on the floor next to my bed, and occasionally when I wake up from a particularly vivid dream I have the presence of mind to write down a word or two about what I dreamed before falling back asleep. I woke up one morning to see that I had written “ROBOCOP ORACLE” in big, block capitals in my notebook. Well, then, Sleep-Chris, a Robocop Oracle it shall be. Augmented was my vision of what it would be like for an Oracle to surrender increasingly important pieces of their humanity in exchange for bio-mecha-arcane power. Mechanically, I’ve heightened Oracle Curses even more by asking the question, What if every Revelation came with a price, but was made more powerful to compensate? The Augmented Mystery gives you DR, movement speed increases, constant misdirection, a Fly speed, and powerful energy blasts, true—but you also get Light Blindness, poor Reflex saves, concentration checks, and INT penalties. Are the gifts that you receive from the Great Beyond worth the horrifying cost you’ll pay as you surgically or magically alter your body beyond all recognition? That’s something only you will be able to decide. Engage your piston boots, run over to the Patreon, and if you like what you get for free there, toss some money at me! I didn’t ask for this!
Melee, Tank > Recon > Anticaster, Blasting, Control, Debuffing, Ranged, Skills, Utility > Summoning, Support
Bonus Skills
Disable Device is an unusual pick, but has quite a bit of synergy with the Omnitool Revelation, which amps up the Circumstance bonuses from Masterwork Thieves’ Tools and can make you a decent off-Rogue. Fly is crucial if you’re going with your Prototype Thrusters. Knowledge (Engineering) is the most dispensable of the bonus skills, but at least Perception rounds things out nicely.
Bonus Spells
(2) Long Arm: Normally one of the best 1st-level extracts for Investigators and Alchemists, long arm will never go amiss in a melee build, increasing your threatened area and synergizing nicely with Combat Reflexes.
(4) Alter Self: In addition to acting as a great disguise ability, alter self can also grant you access to Swim speeds, darkvision, and a bunch of other polymorph goodies.
(6) Force Punch: Some decent force damage that hurts incorporeal enemies and bypasses DR is a good chassis for the spell, and then you start layering on battlefield control and positioning. It’s not mind-blowingly powerful, but it is one of my flavor favorites (flavorites?) from the Ascetic Mystery.
(8) Adjustable Polymorph: And now, in keeping with your ability to Inspector Gadget every portion of your body, you can change your polymorphed shape at any time! If you suddenly need scent, darkvision, etc., adjustable polymorph is your spell.
(10) Wall of Force: The OG battlefield control spell. Wall of force is incredibly hard to destroy, easily shaped, and doesn’t stick around for an annoyingly long time.
(12) Transformation: Losing spellcasting for the duration is obviously troublesome, but the upside is that you suddenly become a full-BAB martial character...while retaining access to all your Revelations. Augmented Oracles can lay out some serious pain while transformed.
(14) Telekinetic Sphere: Reflex negates—easily the weakest of all enemy saves by level, however. And in return, you get to move allies, move equipment, and most importantly, move enemies about as if you were Syndrome from The Incredibles.
(16) Iron Body: A peerless buff for melee characters, which I’m assuming most Augmented Oracles will be. Get in there and smash.
(18) Shapechange: Shapechange is anything you want it to be, when you want it to be. Naturally continues the alter self and adjustable polymorph theme from earlier levels.
Revelations
(1) Alloy Plating: In exchange for permanent armor bonuses, you lose out on quite a bit of your already weak Reflex save. DR is great, sure, but what’s going to happen if you get targeted with a fireball or chain lightning? What if your GM targets the element of your Elemental Projectors? There’s less power here than it initially appears.
(1) Ocular Hybridization: The real question is, what do your Elf-eyes see? They’ll be seeing a lot, but you’ll also have to deal with blindness and the dazzled condition, with no easy way to mitigate those penalties through magic items. Still strong enough to be a green, but man, watch those penalties.
(1) Omnitool: One of my favorites that I’ve written, if I may toot my own horn. Adventurers don’t tend to carry a lot of mundane equipment on them, which is a pity, as there’s so much cool stuff you can do with skill kits alone! Omnitool goes a long way toward shoring up some of your weaker skill checks, and provides utility for days, but that standard action to draw a weapon is trouble unless you go for an unarmed strike build.
(1) Radioulnar Implants: All the Unarmed Strike damage and accuracy you could want...along with some self-damage and vulnerability to metal-based effects. I tried to make these Revelations as balanced as possible between power and penalty, and I think Radioulnar Implants is another one that succeeds. Notable for allowing you to sidestep the main penalty from Omnitool.
(1) Spliced Consciousness: Early access to arcane eye is kind of a big deal if you’re looking to scout out dangerous locales before stepping in yourself, but you’ve got to be prepared to expend charges of lesser restoration or do some resting if you want to use it consistently—that WIS damage won’t heal itself.
(1) Piston Boots: You can rack up some truly ridiculous bonuses to Acrobatics with this Revelation alone—a +40 to jump by 20th level, if my math’s not off—and get unparalleled mobility. You’ll need to stand firm in order to cast, however, as the vigorous motion concentration check is surprisingly hard to beat without feats like Combat Casting.
(3) Prototype Thrusters: Fairly mediocre to begin with, Prototype Thrusters only get better with age, and can combine with the Flyby Attack granted by Piston Boots to nice effect. Definitely a must in later levels.
(7) Elemental Projectors: Q: How do you make Oracles good at blasting? A: Give them a blasting Revelation that’s actually good, but presents a real potential for self-inflicted damage. Elemental Projectors will do their job, and do it extraordinarily well, but a dedicated GM with access to Divination magic and blast spells like elemental assessor will have your ass unconscious in a second. Tread carefully, and remember the theme of Augmented: power comes with a price tag.
(11) Pacifying Ray: The Slumber Hex is powerful indeed, but Pacifying Ray places a hard cap on how often you can use it without screwing yourself over. You’ll want to partake responsibly.
(11) Mind Bastion: Your GM may not use Divination magic too heavily, but if they do, there’s no substitute for misdirection and mind blank. I think that permanent INT penalties are more than compensation.
Role
Battle Oracles, are, unsurprisingly, Combat specialists, and usually excel in melee roles thanks to a variety of self-buffs, free feats, and upgrades to maneuvers or initiative. What is surprising is the amount of battlefield control spells Battle Oracles receive: fog cloud and wall of fire are very much not part of the standard Cleric/Oracle package. With this host of self-buffs and no-save control spells, Battle Oracles are thankfully well-suited to having lower casting stats than other Oracles; this attribute prioritization allows them to pump STR and other damage-dealing mechanisms. The over-emphasis on STR-buffing spells doesn’t make Battle well-suited to ranged combat; you may want to investigate the Wood Mystery for its synergy with bows.
Melee, Control > Ranged, Tank > Support > Anticaster, Blasting, Debuffing, Recon, Skills, Summoning, Utility
Bonus Skills
Battle Oracles get a couple of useful skills, Perception and Intimidate topping the list. Ride will be less universally useful, and Knowledge (Engineering) might as well not be on the list, for all you’re going to use it.
Bonus Spells
(2) Enlarge Person: Enlarge person is a good workhorse spell throughout your adventuring life, and particularly important for Battle Oracles because of the relative emphasis the Mystery places on combat maneuvers. Medium-sized PCs have a lot of trouble with combat maneuvers as they grow, but Large-sized PCs have a much easier time. Of no use to Tieflings, Aasimar, and other Native Outsider races unless they took their race’s equivalent of Mostly Human.
(4) Fog Cloud: Fog cloud, on a Battle Oracle? Are they going for some kind of “fog of war” pun here? I’m not sure why Paizo would want Battle Oracles to have this spell, but it sure does yeoman’s work. Battlefield control spells are insanely good, and when you pick up ashen path as a 2nd-level spell, you’ll appreciate the ability to run into your own battlefield control and mop up while the enemy is blind.
(6) Magic Vestment: You’re a tank, and tanks need all the defense they can get. That’s what magic vestment is for!
(8) Wall of Fire: And another battlefield control spell, not four levels down the line from fog cloud! Man, you really do get lucky with these. Wall of fire is the perfect “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” spell: if you cross it, you take damage; if you remain on the other side, you can’t help your allies; if you dither near it, you take damage. No matter what you do, your options are shitty.
(10) Righteous Might: Damn, but the blue train rolls deep for Battle Oracles! Righteous might is an incredible ability for anyone in melee. (That’s you, remember.) STR and CON bonuses, AC bonuses, DR/Alignment...this spell significantly improves your ability to stand confidently in melee, and just at the point that melee combat starts to get more and more brutal. Couldn’t come at a better time.
(12) Mass Bull’s Strength: STR is perhaps one of the least important attributes to most non-melee classes at high levels. By that point, carrying capacity and encumbrance have largely been addressed through spells and Bags of Holding; Climb and Swim have been replaced with spells or flight; ranged combat-focused PCs care about DEX, and casters care about their mental stats. Only STR-based melee combatants will care about this attribute; they’ll be getting their Enhancement bonuses from a physical stat belt, however, which makes mass bull’s strength decent but not fantastic.
(14) Control Weather: This spell is a bit hard to get a handle on. On the one hand, you can create some truly powerful effects within a massive radius; on the other hand, any hurricane-force winds or other nasty effects you create will affect your team as much as any enemies. On balance, control weather is probably more useful for negating the effects of other casters.
(16) Earthquake: The effects are versatile enough to merit some examination, but the damage and save DCs are paltry for this level. Fortunately, Reflex tends to be the weakest enemy save as you level, thanks to the tendency to get larger and larger foes. Cast this spell on a large enough group of slow enemies, and you’re bound to get at least one good effect. Best as an opening gambit, though, so you don’t force concentration checks on allied casters.
(18) Storm of Vengeance: Saves and SR apply, the damage is weak, and by this level enemies are caster-hunting machines. If you try to do full-round casting, concentrate, wind up for the “big” effects near the end of this spell, please believe any halfway intelligent enemy will have murdered or dispelled you before you get to Round 3.
Revelations
(1) Battlecry: Morale bonuses aren’t too hard to come by, and this Morale bonus won’t be wowing anyone, numerically. Add a crappy action cost to that, and you’re looking at a less than stellar package.
(1) Battlefield Clarity: Some of the conditions that Battlefield Clarity protects against are hideously inconvenient for adventurers. I wish the bonus scaled a little better; +4 will serve you well in the early game, but falls off a bit in later levels. Still a solid Revelation for a class with slow Fortitude save progression.
(1) Maneuver Mastery: Being counted as full BAB for the purposes of one maneuver is a neat trick, but you might as well not have access to the Revelation until 7th level, when you can finally stop provoking AoOs. Usual math about which maneuver you pick applies: lots of casters = Grapple, lots of humanoids = Disarm or Trip, anything else = Dirty Trick.
(1) Resiliency: The Diehard feat is polarizing: some people like that it lets you keep on fighting past 0 HP; others believe that enemies are more likely to keep attacking conscious combatants, leading to a quick demise. I fall in the latter camp, so take this rating with a grain of salt if you fall in the former camp.
(1) Skill At Arms: Heavy armor might not be feasible at 1st level, but it’s certainly a demonstrable upgrade over medium armor once you can afford it. Martial weapons, too, are generally better than simple weapons; the longspear can hold its own, but it’s no match for a greatsword.
(1) Surprising Charge: A decent power that’s held back by limited uses per day. Still good for interposing yourself between an enemy and a squishier teammate, cutting off an opponent’s retreat, etc. It’s not bad by any stretch—Battle just has such good Revelations that you’ll be hard-pressed to make your selections as it is.
(1) War Sight: I’m used to playing with the Battle Mystery on my Ravener Hunter Inquisitor, where War Sight in conjunction with Cunning Initiative is simply unbeatable. Even for less initiative-heavy classes like the Oracle, the ability to roll two or even three times to act first should knock your socks off. Get up into a caster’s face, control the battlefield, lay down a brutal debuff—he who goes first, goes last. You Want This.™ I’d make it your 3rd-level pick.
(1) Weapon Mastery: Weapon Focus frequently gets in the way of builds as a feat tax, so it’s nice to get that out of the way early and for free. Improved Critical is excellent, and Greater Weapon Focus simply ensures that your effective BAB continues to scale as closely as possible with full-BAB martial classes.
(7) Combat Healer: You still have to spend spells known to get access to the cure line, and there aren’t many uses per day. It might save your life (or an ally’s) at some point, but I’d say that on balance Battle Oracles are better off trying to kill stuff and control the flow of combat, not heal.
(11) Iron Skin: Stoneskin is an excellent spell that’s held back by expensive material components, so poaching it for free is wonderful. DR from different sources doesn’t stack, however; don’t try to use stoneskin with something like righteous might at the same time.
Role
Bones Oracles don’t give two hoots about morality and the afterlife: they’re all about Summoning necromantic servants, pure and simple. A few defensive and debuffing abilities notwithstanding, the Mystery’s whole schtick is the raising of an army of skeletons and zombies. If you’re traveling with a Good-aligned party, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere for your Mystery, but Evil-aligned folks (and Urgathoa worshipers particularly) might not mind having a few undead servitors around to soak hits and flank enemies.
Summoning > Anticaster, Debuffing > Ranged, Recon, Tank, Utility > Blasting, Control, Melee, Skills, Support
Bonus Skills
Bluff and Intimidate round out the list needed to be the party face. Disguise is probably an unnecessary addition unless you’re Undead yourself and need to disguise yourself as a living creature, and Stealth is never a bad bet.
Bonus Spells
(2) Cause Fear: Cause fear isn’t a phenomenal spell even at low levels (compare with, say, color spray) and hits a hard wall at 6th level or even before, depending on your target’s HD. I’ve ranked this spell slightly higher on the normal spell list because Bones Oracles don’t get to retrain it for something more useful at a later date.
(4) False Life: At hours per level, you won’t have to refresh false life often, and it’s decent for soaking the stray blow that somehow manages to pierce through your wall of undead flesh.
(6) Animate Dead: There are only a few worthwhile Bones Revelations, so you’ll probably have both Undead Servitude and Raise the Dead by 3rd level. Even so, you’re all about having ridiculous numbers of zombie and skeleton servitors, so why not toss a few more on the pile?
(8) Fear: No HD cap, multiple targets, and a harder-hitting debuff all make fear a much better spell than cause fear. Panicked is an amazing condition that forces enemies to drop equipment, burn spell slots to get away from you, and more. Setting up an AoO cascade with an ally with Combat Reflexes can be a lot of fun with fear, too.
(10) Slay Living: Blah, what a stinker. The median HP of CR 10 enemies is 126. Assuming that your foe fails the Will save and you deal average damage, you’re getting 52 points of damage—not even half of one creature’s HP. If they pass their Will save, you might as well have tried to perform an unarmed strike, for all the damage output you’re going to get. That isn’t even counting the touch attack roll or restriction to living targets.
(12) Circle of Death: Expensive material component, restriction to targets lower than 9 HD, Fortitude negates, SR applies. God, how awful. Why would you bother?
(14) Command Undead: At last, you’re not restricted to zombies and skeletons! Command undead will simply stop some encounters, pending a failed Will save, and in other cases can net you some disposable allies for a few critical minutes. Make sure they die before the time expires.
(16) Horrid Wilting: The median HP for a CR 16 enemy is 246, so at an average roll, 16d6 will only take out about 20% of their HP, chalked down to 10% if they pass that Fortitude save (which they almost certainly will). Its only saving grace is that it’s an AoE spell, at least allowing you to deal damage to many creatures at once.
(18) Wail of the Banshee: Many enemies at this level will be outright immune to death effects, and those that aren’t are probably going to pass that Fortitude save. Even if they fail, median HP for CR 18 enemies is 304, so you’re only going to be taking a little more than half their health. I’m so tough on blasting and save-or-die spells, but the truth of the matter is that enemy HP, SR, and saves scale too quickly to make them worth your while in 95% of cases.
Revelations
(1) Armor of Bones: Like many of the armor abilities available to Oracles, Armor of Bones is a pretty compelling Revelation pick at 3rd or 7th level, when you’ll have enough hour-long increments to last for the combats you need. The ability to enchant any summoned armor with magic vestment is a must, so absolutely talk to your GM about allowing it (they really should allow it). DR/Bludgeoning is decent, as it can’t be overcome by higher enhancement bonuses. Might save you a few points here and there.
(1) Bleeding Wounds: Casting any spell in the inflict line is a pretty terrible way to deal damage: it’s paltry to begin with, and opponents get a Will save on top of that. Tacking on a few points of bleed damage is only so much lipstick on the proverbial pig.
(1) Death’s Touch: Somehow even worse than inflict light wounds, offensively. The only, and I repeat only, reason you should take this Revelation is as a minor healing ability for your undead minions. I see you going for the melee touch attack. Drop it! Drop it.
(1) Near Death: The bonus doesn’t scale super well, but does at least apply to a variety of conditions you’d rather not have, features an uncommon bonus type, and shores up your shitty Fortitude save. It’s not mind-blowing, just middle of the road.
(1) Raise the Dead: Kind of your signature ability as a Bones Oracle, although it still doesn’t quite wow, thanks to limited uses per day and a short duration. Still, we are all bound by societal expectations, are we not? Battle Oracles gotta battle, Bones Oracles gotta bone. Or something like that.
(1) Resist Life: Being targeted by enemy channeling is an extraordinarily, extraordinarily rare circumstance, so much so that you’ll probably go entire campaigns without running into it once. Niche, niche, niche.
(1) Undead Servitude: Finally, something goes unprecedentedly right for the Bones Oracle. Command Undead is keyed off of CHA, which always made it function imperfectly for Clerics. You, however, have CHA as your casting stat, improving both the number of times you can “Channel” and the DC for Undead to resist your compulsion. The Improved Channel feat is recommended here, as Undead continue to obey until someone else turns them, they get murdered, or they pass their save. Of those outcomes, passing the save is the most likely, so you definitely want to upgrade the save DC.
(1) Voice of the Grave: Speak with dead has always been a good utility spell for gathering information that’s generally only available to the GM. You should be excited about getting it for free.
(7) Soul Siphon: You think to yourself, “Negative levels! Yippie ki yay, motherfucker!” right up until you remember that a negative level is just a cumulative -1 to everything, and you get it just once per day. The fact that you heal a couple HP in the process is pretty insignificant: negative levels are designed to be dealt en masse, either through spells like energy drain or through Undead abilities that can force a save on each hit. One negative level ain’t gonna slow anyone down.
(11) Spirit Walk: Functionally identical to the Revelation from Ancestor Mystery, and just as good. More scouting and defensive abilities never hurt anyone.
Role
As a little disclaimer, I wrote the Contagion Mystery. That’s right! Beneath my cynical guide-writer’s carapace is an artist who just wants to create something that other people enjoy. If you decide you enjoy Contagion, well, it’s free to you, and if you’d like more where that came from, the link above takes you to the Patreon page for All Souls Gaming, where you can access all my third-party content, also free of charge. Contagion is designed to be a Debuffing/Support specialist, shutting enemies down with crippling diseases while also healing and safeguarding allies. You can read more about my design philosophy for the Mystery in the document itself. If the power curve seems too high, remember that many creatures have bonuses to saves against poison or disease, while a good many others have outright poison or disease immunity; although Infectious Doubt can work around those immunities, it penalizes save DCs in order to do so, leading to a power balance. Remember also that even diseases with immediate onsets will only deal their damage once per day until very high levels, so you’re unlikely to get Contagion Oracles wiping the floor with encounters.
Debuffing, Support > Anticaster, Control > Blasting, Skills, Tank > Melee, Ranged, Recon, Summoning, Utility
Bonus Skills
Survival and Knowledge (Nature) are there for those times when you need to find ingredients to cure an illness while you’re in the wild; Knowledge (Local) gets you some decent anatomical information on the strengths and weaknesses of other Humanoids, and Use Magic Device is perfect for those times when you might need to steal some spells from the Druid list real fast.
Bonus Spells
(2) Decompose Corpse: Not what I’d call a great spell, but it can at least soften up Undead in the early levels. Of limited use later.
(4) Virulent Miasma: An incredibly important component of your debuffing routine in the early levels, as one failed Fortitude save opens an enemy up to much, much more pain. And battlefield control, to boot!
(6) Contagion: Normally not my cup of tea because a Fortitude save negates, the Signature Strain and Infectious Doubt Revelations make contagion a lot easier to work with. Immediate onset means some pretty tasty ability damage right up front, usually on par with bestow curse, your other top-shelf 3rd-level debuff.
(8) Touch of Slime: CON damage is particularly good for Contagion Oracles, as every two points of damage mean a weaker Fortitude save to resist further damage. Vicious cycle. Touch of slime features only one save, the initial save, and can kill someone very, very quickly if conditions are right. Pair with virulent miasma for maximal effect.
(10) Greater Contagion: And now martial characters can’t cure their diseases. You may want to investigate the aggravate affliction spell to pile on a few more debuffs.
(12) Heal: The best healing spell in the game, and it just so happens to cure disease, too.
(14) Greater Restoration: Super expensive, but you’ll be glad you have it if you ever need to recover from massive ability damage or level drain in the middle of a dungeon.
(16) Blood Mist: The [poison] descriptor and Fortitude negates condition keep blood mist well within respectable boundaries for an 8th-level spell--if anything, it might be a bit underpowered. Softens up Will saves, though, and can get a group of unprepared enemies to tear each other apart if used as an alpha strike.
(18) Mass Heal: Yep, we’ll take it. Easily one of the best 9th-level spells available to Oracles.
Revelations
(1) Carrier: Carrier presents you with an interesting choice: do you want to choose a terrible disease, knowing that enemies are more likely to be crippled when they contract it, or do you want to choose a mild disease, knowing that you won’t be crippled by it? The scaling save DC is a nice touch, and one that you’ll probably want to pair with Signature Strain. The frequency bonuses from Signature Strain also mean that enemies will eventually be crippled within minutes of contracting your Carrier disease.
(1) Infectious Doubt: The Revelation text specifically applies to spells, so no turning your Carrier disease on Constructs or Undead. Even so, the ability to bypass disease, poison, [mind-affecting], and ability damage immunities is simply too good to pass up, and allows your diseases to become truly universal.
(1) Instinctive Avoidance: CHA-to-AC powers are always good, and I love the idea of enemies seeing you as so disease-ridden that they don’t even want to get close to touch you. Don’t dump DEX entirely--you’ll need it for your Reflex save.
(1) Pathologist’s Eye: Diagnose disease does much, much more than people think, from cluing you in about enemy abilities that will sicken or nauseate you to pinging when there’s a latent infestation nearby. Fun to be able to cure disease non-magically, too, but Pathologist’s Eye is still among the more skippable Revelations of the bunch.
(1) Rapid Convalescence: The Revelation is quite good at saving party resources, both in terms of lesser restoration spell slots and cure light wounds spell slots. Nice perk. It’s also an easy candidate for your 11th level pick, as it starts to ramp up ability damage from disease right around that time.
(1) Spore Burst: Ability damage is always more interesting to me than HP damage, and damaging CON is lovely for its synergy with Fortitude-targeting spells and effects. On balance, better than other swift action damage powers in the Oracle Revelation lists, though I wrote it to scale more slowly and target the strong Fortitude save, rather than the weak Reflex save.
(7) Signature Strain: One of your must-have abilities in the Contagion Mystery: it amps up save DCs, compensates perfectly for the lost power that you suffer with Infectious Doubt, and can eventually lead to very quick ability damage. Like, “pop a disease on a guy and come back a few minutes later, and he’s dead” kind of quick.
(7) Trigger Spellblight: Your mileage will vary depending on which spellblight you land on, but still, this is a hard hit for any caster to take, all the worse because you can use it even before they manage to cast a spell. Not many uses per day, but still a premium magehunting tool.
(9) Acquired Immunity: As with the similar Outer Rifts Revelation, yeah, you really need to take this. Only so many ways of getting Inherent bonuses to attributes, and they’re always expensive.
(11) Plague Storm: Sure, AoE disease ain’t bad. Even better if you can plow this baby right into the middle of your virulent miasma.
Role
I feel a little sorry for the Dark Tapestry Mystery: before Shadow came along, it was the big, bad darkness Mystery on the block. With the exception of Revelations like Many Forms and spells like black tentacles, however, Dark Tapestry ultimately can’t hold a candle to its older, richer, more handsome cousin. There are still more than enough powers here to allow you to be a sneaky stealthy Recon god, and definitely some strong debuffs that favor magehunting—feeblemind, black tentacles, and Gift of Madness chief among them. Ultimately, though, Shadow has Dark Secrets, and Dark Secrets is everything you could want on the Wizard/Sorcerer spell list. It’s hard to overstate how good that Revelation is. Dark Tapestry still does many things right! It’s just a little less OP than Shadow.
Debuffing, Recon > Anticaster, Control > Blasting, Ranged, Skills, Tank, Utility > Melee, Summoning, Support
Bonus Skills
Intimidate lets you be the boogeyman, and Stealth plus the considerable bonuses granted by Cloak of Darkness can make you a truly excellent scout. Knowledge (Arcana) doesn’t play naturally into your CHA focus, but may be necessary if you don’t have a resident Wizard; it’s also indispensable for identifying the Eldritch forces that Dark Tapestry Oracles like to consort with. Disguise is typically a weak pick, and doubly so for this Mystery because of the marvelous Many Forms Revelation.
Bonus Spells
(2) Entropic Shield: Rays and ranged attacks aren’t as common as melee attacks and other types of spells, so entropic shield wouldn’t be a great pick on the normal Oracle spell list. It’s not bad to have it in your back pocket in case you run up against those enemies, though.
(4) Dust of Twilight: The spell is unfortunately not powerful enough to dispel magic against daylight, the main effect you’d be trying to counter. Don’t count on that fatigue landing; it’s just a nice perk if it does.
(6) Tongues: Amazing utility spell. You’ll love it!
(8) Black Tentacles: Difficult terrain, grappling with surprisingly good CMB, damage each round within a large radius—there really is a reason why black tentacles is a classic of battlefield control spells. Seems to do everything right and nothing wrong.
(10) Feeblemind: Casters are extremely dangerous adversaries, but not when they’ve had feeblemind placed on them. Combine the innate save penalty with an effect like bestow curse, and you’ve got ways to royally and permanently screw casters over. I’ve always been surprised that it only takes one failed save for this effect to take place.
(12) Planar Binding: The planar binding series is one of those spell suites with high reward...and very high risk. Sure, Outsiders and Elementals can potentially get you out of tight spots or arrange for the fastest 7-11 snack run of your life, but they’re also eternal beings with powers, allies, and motivations that the summoner can’t always understand. You summon these beings at your own risk, and their price will always be paid.
(14) Insanity: In combat, there’s little difference between a permanent duration and a duration of rounds per level. Insanity is therefore more appropriate when you need to mess someone up outside of combat; these situations are somewhat niche.
(16) Reverse Gravity: Because the height of the spell counts against the area, you’re continually forced between affecting more targets and dealing decent damage. That said, no save and no spell resistance, so it’s a sure bet against troublesome enemies.
(18) Interplanetary Teleport: Might be some instances where you want to go to Castrovel or Akiton, but it’ll be niche, and your GM probably won’t be overly enthused.
Revelations
(1) Brain Drain: Brain Drain gives you a knowledge check, some damage, and detect thoughts, but it doesn’t do any of them particularly well. The damage is poor, you’ve no idea whether the target’s skill bonus on the knowledge check is greater than yours, and you only retain the target’s thoughts for a few rounds. Thematic, certainly; not mechanically powerful, however.
(1) Cloak of Darkness: A circumstance bonus to Stealth is an intriguing rider, as all circumstance bonuses stack unless they’re from the same source. The armor, of course, gets much better if you can use magic vestment; if you can, there’s nothing stopping you from becoming almost as good at Stealth as the Rogue of the party.
(1) Gift of Madness: Your Gift gets a huge boost in effectiveness at 7th level, so I’d recommend waiting until then to take this Revelation. One round isn’t going to effectively hinder most enemies.
(1) Interstellar Void: If you’re going to pick up this Revelation at all, pick it up for the debuff, not the damage. 1d6 per level isn’t mind-blowing, and it’s only at 15th level that the debuff starts to get good. A late game pick, if it’s anything.
(1) Many Forms: Versatility is the name of the game here, and boy, are you going to appreciate it. Alter self is already a great spell, capable of grabbing you Darkvision, a Swim speed, Scent, etc. Once you toss the others on top of that, it starts to get better and better. Strong contender for 1st or 3rd-level Revelation.
(1) Pierce the Veil: Darkvision alone is a huge boon for Humans, Halflings, and other races without it innately; vision in magical darkness is a power normally available only to monsters. You’ll definitely want this so you can abuse illumination tactics.
(1) Touch of the Void: Demonstrably worse than Interstellar Void. Not a recommended pick.
(7) Read the Tapestry: No no no no no no. The risks of using contact other plane are very, very real. If you fail that Intelligence check, you might as well hurl yourself off a cliff rather than have your casting stat floored to an 8. Wizards can afford to use this spell because their INT bonuses make it a lot less risky. You? No such luck.
(7) Wings of Darkness: Heck yeah, flight! Several Mysteries have access to flight, but few if any can grant you overland flight, which becomes an excellent means of long-distance travel in later levels.
(11) Dweller in Darkness: Save-or-die spells are by their very definition hit or miss, and phantasmal killer requires two checks to save or die. I dunno, I just can’t get excited about it.
Role
The Dragon Mystery, like its namesake, is incredibly powerful, especially at assassinating casters. The spell list features energy resistance, spell resistance, antimagic field, fly, and true seeing, while the Revelation buffet is stocked to satisfy with extravisual senses, more energy resistance, limited arcane casting, and a few decent offensive melee abilities. Lacking a corollary to the Sorcerer’s Arcane Bloodline, the Dragon Mystery (along with the Lunar Mystery) is the Oracle’s resident Melee Anticaster.
Anticaster, Melee > Tank > Debuffing, Support, Utility > Blasting, Control, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning
Bonus Skills
Intimidate and Perception need no introduction. Fly can receive ranks even without a means of achieving flight—always a lovely boon—which alleviates the pain of Wings of the Dragon and its clumsy maneuverability. Lastly, Knowledge (Arcana) is a common knowledge check that we don’t mind getting.
Bonus Spells
(2) Cause Fear: Cause fear isn’t a phenomenal spell even at low levels (compare with, say, color spray) and hits a hard wall at 6th level or even before, depending on your target’s HD. I’ve ranked this spell slightly higher on the normal spell list because Dragon Oracles don’t get to retrain it for something more useful at a later date.
(4) Resist Energy: Resist energy is an important cornerstone of defense in Pathfinder, acting as a massive damage buffer against enemies that use elemental effects. Because the energy type is chosen as the spell is cast (rather than predetermined like, say, protection from evil/law/good/chaos) you’ll always have the versatility you’re looking for. The fact that it scales well with level is wonderful, too.
(6) Fly: Great for reasons that should be obvious. And remember, Dragon Oracles don’t need a glider in order to dump ranks into Fly! Enjoy that.
(8) Fear: No HD cap, multiple targets, and a harder-hitting debuff all make fear a much better spell than cause fear. Panicked is an amazing condition that forces enemies to drop equipment, burn spell slots to get away from you, and more. Setting up an AoO cascade with an ally with Combat Reflexes can be a lot of fun with fear, too.
(10) Spell Resistance: Between various energy resistances, spell resistance, antimagic field, true seeing, and blindsense, there’s a case to be made that Dragon Oracles were designed with magehunting in mind. Casters that have specialized in SR penetration will still blow by this layer of defense pretty easily, but it’s better than a tinfoil hat, especially against ½ and ¾ casters.
(12) Antimagic Field: How do casters handle an antimagic field? They could try mage’s disjunction or aroden’s spellbane, but those are both 9th-level spells, well beyond a Wizard’s capabilities at 12th level. There’s the old shrink item + concrete cone trick, but that’s cheesy and not guaranteed to work with all hat sizes. The simple answer is that there really isn’t a way, and that’s precisely what magehunters like to hear. Dragon Oracles also get this spell at the same level as Wizards/Sorcerers, a full four levels before other Oracles can. That really, really boosts your anticaster potential.
(14) True Seeing: If you get antimagic field four levels earlier than other Oracles, I suppose it’s only fair that you get true seeing four levels later than other Oracles. Like antimagic field, true seeing is a “Nope!” button that counters a broad swath of common caster tricks. Deeper darkness? Nope, you can see through that. Invisibility? Target locked. Illusion magic? Nah, you don’t fall for that.
(16) Form of the Dragon III: Huge-size Dragons are terrifying to behold, but then again, so are most of the enemies at this level. Your Dragon form is quite a bit tankier than your Oracle form, and Dragons can explicitly cast spells, so long as they don’t require material components (or you have Eschew Materials). Versatile, powerful, overall excellent.
(18) Overwhelming Presence: Lots of perks here: enemies are helpless and can be coup de graced easily; failed saves are basically game over for the combat; saves that are failed and then passed result in a pretty hefty hit to WIS; and even passed saves get you some benefits. What can I say? The Dragon spell list is really good.
Revelations
(1) Breath Weapon: Even for an AoE, you’re doing minuscule damage. Blast elsewhere, blastman.
(1) Draconic Resistance: You start out pretty tame—the equivalent of the Tiefling’s Scaled Skin racial trait—but then the ability scales nicely into higher levels. It’s one more layer of defense for your eventual magehunter potential.
(1) Dragon Magic: Undoubtedly awesome as the Revelation is, Dragon Magic puts you in a bind about when to take it. 3rd-level spells are generally the strongest, but if you took the Revelation at 11th level, you’d only be able to poach one 3rd-level spell. By the time you get to 15th, your campaign might be winding down. My advice is just to bite the bullet, take Dragon Magic at 11th level, and content yourself with either one 3rd-level spell or two 2nd-level spells. If your GM rules that you can retrain spells gained through Dragon Magic like normal Oracle spells, by all means, take it earlier and get a bit more leverage out of the ability. A couple of gems for any level:
(1) Dragon Senses: Darkvision alone will be worth the price of admission for Humans, Halflings, etc., but the later additions of Blindsense, Scent, etc. really sell it. You’ll definitely want to have it at some point.
(1) Presence of Dragons: An easy debuff that fits comfortably within a move-and-cast routine. If you’re hunting casters who use psychic magic, remember that their spells involve emotional components that can’t be fulfilled while they’re shaken. Long duration, too.
(1) Tail Swipe: It’s conceivable that you might carry a shield and a wand or a similar loadout that doesn’t allow you to take AoOs easily, making Tail Swipe a little more useful for punishing casters. Mostly, however, it just functions as a retooled Combat Reflexes: nice, but not essential given how many great Revelations you have on the menu.
(1) Talons of the Dragon: Good offensive power that will surely come in handy when pursuing enemy casters. Pity about the scant rounds per day, though.
(7) Scaled Toughness: Few uses per day, and even a +1 weapon will pierce your DR. You’ve got better options available to you.
(7) Wings of the Dragon: Short duration and pitiful maneuverability hold the Revelation back in early levels, especially as you’ve got fly as a default spell known. You might have my blessing to take it at 15th level, when it can start to sub for overland flight and similar effects.
(11) Form of the Dragon: Because you get to choose the form of your dragon each time, you’ll get some pretty amazing defenses, especially against energy damage. Shit ton of natural attacks, too.
Role
The Elemental Mystery suffers from a bit of an identity crisis: it’s got some great defensive abilities (especially against energy damage, unsurprisingly) and access to all four elemental body spells, allowing you to turn into an Elemental yourself. What it doesn’t have is a clear design vision in other domains. Two Revelations confusingly focus on combat maneuvers, which even specialized builds have trouble with in later levels. One Revelation confers a minor advantage when summoning Elementals; the Mystery otherwise provides no summoning support. Elemental Oracles simply aren’t great at anything until 10th level or so, when the elemental body spells start to ramp up in power. If you’re willing to wait that long, the Mystery probably functions best in a Combat role, but the Battle, Dragon, and Metal Mysteries will still blow it out of the water. If you’re looking to become an Elemental, the Waves, Flame, and Volcano Mysteries have Revelations that mimic the elemental body line.
Melee > Control, Support, Tank, Utility > Anticaster, Blasting, Debuffing, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning
Bonus Skills
Acrobatics and Stealth generally do good work, but Climb and Swim are the original one-rank wonders. Not a whole lot gained here.
Bonus Spells
(2) Endure Elements: Endure elements is an excellent spell for a wand, but a mediocre spell known. Adverse environmental conditions are certainly a threat in some campaigns; they won’t be a threat every day, however, and that’s our criterion for a precious resource like a spell known.
(4) Resist Energy: Resist energy is an important cornerstone of defense in Pathfinder, acting as a massive damage buffer against enemies that use elemental effects. Because the energy type is chosen as the spell is cast (rather than predetermined like, say, protection from evil/law/good/chaos) you’ll always have the versatility you’re looking for. The fact that it scales well with level is wonderful, too.
(6) Elemental Aura: The various debuffs associated with the elements are the best part of the spell. It’s unfortunate that a Reflex save will negate those conditions, especially as elemental aura is of a low enough level that you can’t count on enemies failing their save consistently.
(8 - 14) Elemental Body I - IV: I would argue that the elemental body series that reigns eternal from 8th to 14th level is the core of the Mystery. Elementals aren’t locked out of casting other spells or even wielding weapons, so you’re really giving nothing up by blowing up into an elemental monstrosity, especially if you picked up the Elemental Aegis Revelation for additional protection while polymorphed. Attribute bonuses, natural armor bonuses, novel movement modes, extravisual senses, and of course, elemental immunities: the spells are versatile and powerful, and enable many more roles for you, from safer combat to risk-free scouting.
(16) Create Demiplane: The create demiplane line is a fun bunch for setting up shop as a god in your own patch of land. “Wizard’s Retirement” ain’t bad.
(18) Elemental Swarm: Is it any wonder martials are so jealous of casters in Pathfinder? “Hey, guys, I just learned how to perform a Stunning Critical!” “Oh, sorry, I got distracted while I was summoning 3d4+1 Elementals to do my bidding unquestioningly. What were you saying?” It’s a good thing these guys can’t be turned against you—there’s very little that that amount of muscle can’t accomplish.
Revelations
(1) Dance of Whirling Water: What a bizarre ability. Enemies’ to-hit will scale much, much faster than your Acrobatics, so deliberately moving through squares is rarely a good idea; enemies’ CMD scales much, much faster than your CMB to trip, even with the bonus, so attempting the maneuver against them is rarely a good idea; ditto for bull rush. Even if you grabbed the Revelation just for Whirlwind Attack, you don’t have the iterative attacks or BAB to take full advantage of the feat. Muddled, muddled, muddled design.
(1) Desert Mirage: Alright, that’s a little better. Blur is quite the gem at lower levels; however, as enemies come to rely on more powerful senses (blindsense, blindsight, scent, tremorsense, true seeing) the spell will simply stop working. The fire damage gained at 7th level doesn’t scale at all, unfortunately, and only apply to melee strikes.
(1) Elemental Aegis: There’s not a whole lot to distinguish Elemental Aegis from the other armor Revelations, but those powers as a group are strong anyway. Air receives the best 13th-level mechanical boost, followed by Earth. Water and Fire confer negligible benefits.
(1) Elemental Resistance: The important thing here is that you’re not picking your element—you get all of them. Stack that with resist energy, and you’ll have little trouble staring down most enemies that rely on energy damage.
(1) Flowing Step: +10 feet of base movement and water walk at 11th level? For this I rolled an Elemental Oracle? Acrobatics stuff is...not for you.
(1) Reforged Arms: Quick and easy way to prep for unusual DR. Just touch the Barbarian’s weapon and you’re off to the races! Could also help in situations where your usual weapon is gone and you need to get a new one in a hurry, but how often does that happen?
(1) Roiling Soil: It’s difficult terrain that moves with you and doesn’t hinder your teammates. That’s a win, for sure. And a DC 10 Acrobatics check is actually harder than it sounds! If your enemy hasn’t put any ranks into Acrobatics (certainly a possibility) then it’s a straight DEX check, and spoiler alert, the DEX of Huge enemies doesn’t tend to be excellent.
(1) Sweeping Impact: The Elemental Mystery grants you a lot of cool things to do with combat maneuvers, but no bonuses to ensure your maneuver succeeds. Case in point: you will never, never, ever have a CMB high enough to trip or bull rush enemies two size categories larger than you, much less three or four.
(7) Elemental Allies: Summoning as a standard action is a nice quality of life improvement, but by no means gamechanging. Now, if this Revelation granted additional castings of summon monster for Elementals, or increased duration for Elementals, that would be a different story...
Role
As you might expect from a fire-based Mystery, Flame really leans hard into Blasting. You’ve got a spell list tailored around it, not to mention five count ‘em five Revelations based on blasting. All of this damage will be fire damage, however, and by the time you get to CR 12 encounters, the minimum amount of fire resistance is 10; add on Reflex saves for half and the vicissitudes of rolling bunches of d6s, and you might be looking at lower levels of damage as you level up, rather than higher levels. There are a couple of decent control, utility, and buffing abilities in the bunch, but overall Flame is a one-trick pony that you can’t count on carrying you very far.
Blasting > Control, Melee, Summoning, Support > Anticaster, Debuffing, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Tank, Utility
Bonus Skills
Acrobatics is eternally useful for avoiding AoOs in combat, and Intimidate might work especially will for Ifrit who want to take the Fiery Glare racial trait. Climb can make do with a single rank, especially with Wings of Fire on your Revelation list. Perform is mechanically irrelevant.
Bonus Spells
(2) Burning Hands: At 5d4 fire damage maximum, burning hands sure doesn’t age well. Kinda stinks to receive it as a spell that you can’t retrain later.
(4) Resist Energy: Resist energy is an important cornerstone of defense in Pathfinder, acting as a massive damage buffer against enemies that use elemental effects. Because the energy type is chosen as the spell is cast (rather than predetermined like, say, protection from evil/law/good/chaos) you’ll always have the versatility you’re looking for. The fact that it scales well with level is wonderful, too.
(6) Fireball: An old classic that does better the more enemies are on the battlefield. If the math favors a casting, it should always be your opening move before the rest of the team gets in the way.
(8) Wall of Fire: Battlefield control spells never go out of style because they act as a force multiplier for your team and often don’t require failed saves in order to be effective. Dealing damage is a secondary consideration with wall of fire: your main goal is simply to separate enemies from one another, block line of sight, and force sub-optimal tactics wherever you can.
(10) Summon Monster V: Fire Elementals alone won’t get the job done, especially as the Form of Flame Revelation allows you to become a Fire Elemental by this level. You’d hope for more versatility.
(12) Fire Seeds: Ultimately, the spell runs into the same problem as burning hands, which is to say limited damage relegated to a specific energy type.
(14) Fire Storm: A little more powerful (and easier to land) than fire seeds, but always the same energy type, and always blasts with Reflex saves for half. How much damage are you expecting to do?
(16) Incendiary Cloud: Battlefield control plus area damage. One of the few gems on the spell list.
(18) Fiery Body: The pinnacle of your spellcasting prowess still only elicits an “I guess?” Flame Oracles have one trick up their sleeve, and keep trying to do it better and better. Do they succeed? Well...
Revelations
(1) Burning Magic: A couple issues here: first, the Revelation applies only to spells, not any of the fire-based blasting Revelations you have access to. Second, the creature must both take damage and fail its initial Reflex save for half—by no means a guaranteed outcome. Third, even small amounts of fire resistance will diminish the burn damage to zero. Fourth, even assuming the maximum duration (4 rounds) and the maximum spell level (9th) you’re still only dealing 36 fire damage at 18th level. The median HP for a CR 18 enemy? 304. Best case—and I do mean best case—scenario, you’ve dealt only 10% of the enemy’s HP in burn damage. If any factors don’t break your way, that could very well be 0%.
(1) Cinder Dance: You’ve got Wings of Fire, so why are you worried about difficult terrain? Just fly over it.
(1) Fire Breath: Weak, weak blast. Blech blech blech.
(1) Gaze of Flames: Ooh, yeah, this is a good one. Vision-impairing effects are common gambits from other casters, and it would make sense that you want to deny them that avenue. You can and should cast your own obscuring mist spells, etc., then slaughter opponents while they’re blinded by the fog.
(1) Heat Aura: Really, truly mediocre damage, but at least concealment never goes out of style. Note that because this Revelation doesn’t state that it functions as blur, it shouldn’t be negated by true seeing. Single round duration is absolute horse shit.
(1) Molten Skin: Eh, at least fire damage is one of the more common varieties. Can’t hurt to layer on more defenses against it.
(1) Touch of Flame: It’s like the Flame Mystery is determined to provide you with as many shitty blasts as possible. No, you don’t want to deal 1d6+10 fire damage at 20th level. No, a free flaming weapon enchantment isn’t worth it. No, you absolutely should reconsider your life choices.
(7) Form of Flame: Personally, I think Fire Elementals are among the weaker elementals, having no novel movement or sensory modes, only MOAR FIRE DAMIDGE. E’en so, Elemental traits confer a variety of straight immunities, no chaser, and it’s easy to cast or attack while in Elemental form. At hours per level, you’re going to be able to remain an Elemental for most of the adventuring day, and that’s certainly an upgrade from your squishy Oracle form.
(7) Wings of Fire: Ah, well, flight Revelations are up there with armor Revelations for ubiquity. Wings of Fire doesn’t have much to distinguish it from other flight Revelations, though, which unfortunately makes it easily overshadowed. The Wind Mystery, for example, eventually scales to 90 ft. with perfect maneuverability.
(11) Firestorm: It’s kind of like wall of fire, and in that sense, it’s decent. Coming in at 11th level with only one use per day, though…woof.
Role
Nothing says “Break yourself upon me!” like a full set of Hellknight Plate, eh? Oracles of the Godclaw Mystery have a pretty simple battle plan: get into impenetrable armor, scare people shitless, then beat them to death with sticks or stick-like implements. The Godclaw is among the hardiest of all the Mysteries, right up there with Metal and Battle; it layers insane AC numbers on top of save bonuses and the ability to strip yourself of negative conditions for a formidable package. The spell list is heavily, heavily biased toward facing Chaotic-aligned enemies, and even then, many of the spells are dependent on hordes of weaker enemies, not +2 or +3 CR encounters of a single enemy. Things do pick up in the spell department at mid-to-high levels, but for the most part, Godclaw Oracles shine in a Melee Magehunter role, running crowd control while steadily harassing casters and weaker minions.
Anticaster, Tank > Debuffing, Melee > Control > Blasting, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning, Support, Utility
Bonus Skills
Bluff and Intimidate round out your face skills nicely, and Intimidate is particularly well-suited for your Inquisitor-ish approach to problems. Perception reigns supreme, as always. Knowledge (Local) identifies humanoids, which, sure, appear frequently in campaigns. Most likely, Godclaw Oracles will only be interested in finding out whether they’re Chaotic-aligned so you can pulverize them.
Bonus Spells
(2) Cause Fear: Cause fear isn’t a phenomenal spell even at low levels (compare with, say, color spray) and hits a hard wall at 6th level or even before, depending on your target’s HD. I’ve ranked this spell slightly higher on the normal spell list because Godclaw Oracles don’t get to retrain it for something more useful at a later date.
(4) Daze Monster: Hard, hard cap on its utility with the 6 HD limit, and you can’t learn something better in its place. I really wish Oracles would stop getting these kinds of spells.
(6) Hold Person: Mind-affecting, humanoids only, with a new Will save each round to negate. Phew. You get some modest support from Asmodeus’ Boon, but otherwise can’t count on this spell lasting for even one round, much less several. As with the previous Godclaw spells, not one that I’d pick if given a choice.
(8) Order’s Wrath: Limited as-is, and grants a Will save for partial damage and the negation of that all-important dazed condition. Plus alignment restrictions. Tsk tsk. Godclaw is really striking out on the spell list.
(10) Break Enchantment: ...until now, at least. Break enchantment is a souped-up dispel magic, capable of dispatching all the worst magical conditions you or your teammates can be subjected to. Ya want this, hear?
(12) Forceful Hand: If anyone remembers the original Super Smash Bros. and the fight against Master Hand, you might remember getting swatted helplessly around the battlefield by a large and relentless opponent. Forceful hand is that experience in spell form! It’s great for occupying a troublesome enemy while you go to town on someone else, screwing up full-round casting sequences, or forcing flying creatures to succeed at a DC 25 Fly check or start to fall out of the sky (per the “Collision While Flying” rules). Perhaps most importantly, enemies cannot move closer to you unless they succeed at a bull rush maneuver against your disembodied hand, which wastes valuable time and actions.
(14) Dictum: Alignment restrictions, and anything above your HD simply ignores you. These facts essentially make dictum an expensive blindness/deafness, good for little except killing off mooks that would have been OHKOs anyway.
(16) Shield of Law: Shield of law is the total package: top-shelf defenses for the entire team with a potent debuff against enemies. Obviously reliant on facing Chaotic-aligned enemies, but man, it’s OP if you are. The bit about getting the AC and save bonuses against non-Chaotic enemies is largely fluff at this level; everyone should have a Ring of Protection and Cloak of Resistance +4 by 16th level.
(18) Imprisonment: Player characters are destroying world-ending threats by 18th level, so it makes sense that Godclaw Oracles would receive a means of permanently sealing away the lawless chaos of the multiverse. Floor the enemy’s saves before making your attack, if at all possible—you only get one shot at this.
Revelations
(1) Abadar’s Boon: Object reading can be extremely useful, as evidenced by the Occultist class. What better way to solve a mystery than by asking questions of everyday objects that might have witnessed events? And if not for one little stricture, this Revelation would be just as good. That one little stricture? You’re limited to masterwork items. Masterwork items become much more commonplace in later levels, but Abadar likely won’t serve you well early. Maybe wait until 7th or 11th level to get this, if you want it.
(1) Asmodeus’ Boon: Many spells deal some amount of damage, even if they’re not explicitly blasting spells. Shaken isn’t super powerful, but it debuffs saves and accuracy at the very least, which lets you use your other spells better and protects the team.
(1) Armored Mind: You’ll need Instant Armor or the Heavy Armor Proficiency feat to even get access to Hellknight Plate as an Oracle, but the Armored Mind payoff is worth an invested feat or Revelation. Mind-affecting spells are the absolute worst to be on the receiving end of; the 7th-level once per day reroll is particularly nice.
(1) Instant Armor: There are few instances where you’ll need to don or doff armor quickly. Instant Armor is useful for grabbing proficiency with the Hellknight Plate, though, and should be on your list of Revelations to consider if you’re not spending a feat on Heavy Armor Proficiency.
(1) Iomedae’s Boon: I like it! It’s kind of like a self-only version of the Bard’s Inspire Courage feature. Grabbing it at 7th level will give you two uses per day at a +2 bonus.
(1) Irori’s Boon: The conditions this Revelation allows you to save against are really, really nasty ones that could easily spell your death if they take effect. Rerolls are amazing.
(1) Resiliency: The Diehard feat is polarizing: some people like that it lets you keep on fighting past 0 HP; others believe that enemies are more likely to keep attacking conscious combatants, leading to a quick demise. I fall in the latter camp, so take this rating with a grain of salt if you fall in the former camp.
(1) Torag’s Boon: Damn, these are some hefty bonuses. Hellknight Plate plus Torag’s Boon will make you nigh untouchable in early levels, and the Revelation even scales nicely into upper levels. Standard action activation isn’t the best ever, but it’ll fit manageably into a surprise round.
(3) Might of the Godclaw: Abadar and Irori have pretty awesome Obediences, and Torag is useful if you’re finding a way to pick up some martial weapon proficiency. Cool to be able to swap out boons that don’t thrill you, but do remember that the boons come online very late unless you’re moving into the Evangelist PrC.
(7) Iron Order: With the -6 stacking penalty from your Hellknight Plate and choosing a Chaotic-aligned target, you have a good chance of getting a failed save. Suggestion isn’t the most powerful spell, though, and you never move beyond one use per day. I’d probably bump it up to green at 15th level, when your Iron Order turns into mass suggestion.
Role
The Heavens Mystery is a bit of an odd duck. Its spell list is pretty good, albeit heavily reliant on Illusion (Pattern) spells for hardcore Debuffing. That’s not a wholly bad thing, because the Awesome Display Revelation really lets you amp that subschool up to 11. I mean, who doesn’t want to be able to use color spray until 10th level and beyond? Apart from light, flight, and insight, though, the Mystery doesn’t have a unified theme, which makes it a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none-type choice. Still, if you’ve ever wanted to mix martial arts with rainbow magic, here’s your opportunity.
Debuffing > Anticaster, Ranged, Utility > Blasting, Skills, Support, Tank > Control, Melee, Recon, Summoning
Bonus Skills
Fly is a nice touch for a class that includes several flight abilities, and of course Perception is OP. Knowledge (Arcana) does good work identifying magical beasts and other arcane mysteries. The only dubiously useful skill on the list is Survival, really.
Bonus Spells
(2) Color Spray: Color spray is one of those spells that simply wrecks low-level encounters. One failed Will save, and boom, suddenly your opponents are blind and unconscious. Under normal circumstances, color spray has a short shelf-life, which I assume is the only reason Paizo let it be so OP; you have a neat little Revelation called Awesome Display, however, and this is what really kicks it up a notch. The Will save won’t scale as hard as you might want without (1st-level, after all) but the combo of these two elements is nasty, nasty, nasty. You might consider Spell Focus (Illusion) or the Heighten Spell metamagic feat to boost the effectiveness of this and many other spells on your list.
(4) Hypnotic Pattern: Fascinated is a weak condition. Hypnotic pattern’s only real use is as a way to cover a tactical retreat. Like rainbow pattern after and color spray before, hypnotic pattern benefits from the Awesome Display Revelation.
(6) Daylight: Gotta have some way to deal with enemy casters monkeying with the light levels, and daylight fits the bill. Nice against enemies like Drow or some Undead who are sensitive to bright light, too.
(8) Rainbow Pattern: Not substantially better than hypnotic pattern unless you’ve got a means of ensuring that enemies fail their second Will save as you maneuver them off cliffs, into traps, etc. Combine it with the Awesome Display Revelation to fascinate entire cities.
(10) Overland Flight: If there’s a spell that exists at the Venn diagram intersection of fun and useful, it’s overland flight.
(12) Chain Lightning: Better for positioning than lightning bolt, although I believe that most blasting spells will ultimately disappoint unless you’re heavily invested in metamagic. Most secondary enemies will take half damage, so pick your primary target wisely: go for the biggest, slowest bruiser you can find, and let the arc do the rest.
(14) Prismatic Spray: This spell is so frickin’ fun. Rolls of 1 through 3 get you ho-hum results, but death poisons, insanity, and forced planar translocation are so much more whimsical and charming.
(16) Sunburst: Permanent blindness on a failed Reflex save? Sure, why not? Reflex is the lowest of the saves as you get into very high levels, and blindness is such a strong condition that it never really goes out of style.
(18) Meteor Swarm: Mediocre blast as your capstone. Ah, well, the rest of your list is pretty good.
Revelations
(1) Awesome Display: Not many Heavens Revelations stand out to me, but Awesome Display is one that definitely does. It may look unassuming on its face; pause to consider, however, that color spray is already one of the best spells of its level. This Revelation will keep that spell current until at least 7th or 8th level—possibly longer, depending on buffs you might have. Hypnotic pattern and rainbow pattern are the less useful Illusion (Pattern) spells on your list; fascinated is an inferior condition to unconscious, blinded, or stunned, after all. Even so, the boost to their effectiveness makes them much more relevant than they would have been otherwise.
(1) Coat of Many Stars: Identical to other armor Revelations until 13th level, when DR/Slashing becomes a thing. I like DR based on damage type, because it never gets overridden by enhancement bonuses. As always, ask about magic vestment so that you can avoid spending money on armor.
(1) Guiding Star: So...Survival? Heal? Sense Motive? Perception is always useful, I suppose. The free metamagic is nice indeed, but has finicky requirements and doesn’t scale with level.
(1) Interstellar Void: I gave this Revelation a conditional pass in Dark Tapestry as a late-game debuff, not as a blast. I’ll stick by that here.
(1) Lure of the Heavens: We obviously want to grab the ability to fly, but a pity that that portion of the Revelation comes online so late. Probably best at 7th or 11th level.
(1) Mantle of Moonlight: The first part of the Revelation might as well be flavor: how many werewolves will you really fight in a campaign? The ability to hand out rage is more intriguing, both for team buffing and for causing enemy casters to froth at the mouth.
(1) Moonlight Bridge: Completely obviated by any form of flight. Decent until then. (/u/mundanegeneric points out that the Revelation text says “in any direction,” which may potentially include vertically; this would give you early access to a miniature wall of force, and almost certainly earn a blue rating. Talk with your GM about that interpretation!)
(1) Spray of Shooting Stars: This Revelation might take the cake as the weakest blast Revelation of them all. You win the turd crown!
(7) Star Chart: By selecting this Revelation you access a 5th-level spell several levels early, in addition to avoiding the expensive material component cost. Sure, I’ll bite.
(11) Dweller in Darkness: I feel like everyone has a first experience with phantasmal killer when they’re new, fresh-faced RPG players. You read the text and you say, “Whoa, this spell can kill someone? Just like that!?” Then eventually you get around to using it and you realize that it’s gated behind a melee touch attack, a Will save, and a Fortitude save. You might be a Heavens Oracle, but the stars just don’t align that way very often.
Role
Okay, so, another disclaimer: I wrote the Ingenuity Mystery. I wanted an Oracle that felt like it controlled the basic material substance of existence and pulled it all together into the ultimate Control specialist. As designed, the Ingenuity Mystery makes you feel like some kind of primeval terraformer, shifting mountains, digging pits and tunnels, reshaping metal, and even doing crazy things like forging Constructs to serve you. The goal that I set out in my mind was to make something that was a pure counterargument to the old adage, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” If you go Ingenuity, you’ll build that and more, and you’ll build it in style, like a Golarion version of a structural or materials science engineer. Slide on over to the Patreon, pledge some money if you’re feeling like a millionaire, and pick up the Ingenuity Mystery as well as all other third-party content I publish, free of charge! Forever! Fly, you fool!
Control, Utility > Debuffing, Support > Anticaster, Skills, Summoning > Blasting, Melee, Ranged, Recon, Tank
Bonus Skills
I gave Ingenuity more skills than most other Mysteries, but a higher proportion of them are “useless” skills. Don’t shrug off skills like Knowledge (Engineering), which gets an enormous buff through the Engineering Mastery Revelation, Disable Device, or Escape Artist. You won’t use Knowledge (Dungeoneering) much unless you’re constructing an underground labyrinth, and Appraise and Knowledge (Geography) are mostly there for thematic reasons. They’re still not mechanically strong.
Bonus Spells
(2) Expeditious Excavation: A fairly ho-hum 1st-level spell that can be used to trip up creatures or, with multiple applications, create trenches or larger pits.
(4) Create Pit: Easily one of the best battlefield control spells, and a mainstay of every Wizard’s arsenal. Enemies can’t get into the fight if they’re attempting DC 25 Climb checks every turn.
(6) Minor Creation: Anything you might need, created out of wood. Craft a shield, improvise a barricade or door, a small raft, a ladder, a bucket--minor creation takes some creativity to use, but it’s not as bad as people seem to think it is.
(8) Major Creation: Now you get to create iron, steel, and stone items for hours per level. Think about all that this could do for you with an appropriate Craft check!
(10) Fabricate: Fabricate is the real deal. Instantaneous duration, so whatever you create is there for good. And how cool is that!? Point to a bunch of stones and say, “Okay, you’re a house now.” Or to a bunch of iron ore and say, “Okay, you’re a cage now.” There are few magical tools as useful for permanently shaping your environment.
(12) Hungry Pit: Like create pit, but lethal. Your pit deals respectable damage, is incredibly deep, and simply can’t be scaled by those who haven’t invested heavily in Climb. A real encounter-ender if used properly.
(14) Rampart: AKA the spell that lets you fortify a city all on your lonesome. Between your pits and walls, you’re really starting to be able to zone off portions of the battlefield where enemies simply cannot go.
(16) Polymorph Any Object: You can’t pull the most obvious Cheaty McCheaterson moves with polymorph any object (turning lead into gold, e.g.) but what you can do is still plenty. The spell can be used both offensively (as baleful polymorph or similar save-or-suck spells) or defensively to build and create. Your move!
(18) Greater Create Demiplane: Realistically, you wouldn’t want greater create demiplane as a spell known, but rather as a scroll that an allied Wizard could cast permanency on. It’s not bad to have to refresh your demiplane, though--by the time you get to 18th level, it’ll last almost three weeks before needing refreshing. A nice little QoL spell for the endgame.
Revelations
(1) Engineering Mastery: It’s an easy boost to your Craft skill if you’re going down that road, and I’m personally a big fan of being able to use Knowledge (Engineering) to accomplish more than the base skill allows. If you’re not interested in either the crafting or engineering side of things, perhaps wait until 15th level for this Revelation, when it allows you to create entire buildings and edifices out of thin air.
(1) Fiber Mastery: Decent QoL spells (rope trick, ropeweave) and battlefield control spells (animate rope, grasping vine, web) here, although they don’t necessarily scale well into the endgame. Still, Fiber Mastery opens up your spell selection at low levels, which is a laudable feat in and of itself.
(1) Force Mastery: It’s all utility and QoL spells (tiny hut, unseen servant, floating disk) until, suddenly, it’s not. Pick it up early if you want some help disabling traps and the like from your unseen servant, or else wait for 5th-level spells to get telekinesis and wall of force. Both are amazing battlefield control spells.
(1) Form Mastery: There’s more here than meets the eye. You can use it for crafting—and it’s great at that, as it lets you shape materials without access to any tools—or you can use it for simpler things, like rendering unattended weapons useless or “shaping” locks and manacles out of your way. Definitely a lot of meat here for the creative.
(1) Metal Mastery: Some stuff for crafting (heart of the metal) and also some for destroying weapons (rusting grasp) but it’s mostly battlefield control. Remember how I wrote this entire Mystery to make you excellent at that?
(1) Soil Mastery: Now this Revelation really lets you feel like a terraforming god, moving the landscape around at will. Excellent battlefield control spells, as usual.
(1) Stone Mastery: Whether Stone or Metal Mastery fits your purposes better will depend in large part on your campaign. Wilderness campaigns might want Stone, and campaigns in cities or against primarily humanoid enemies might want Metal. They’re both good in their own rite!
(1) Water Mastery: The most niche of all the Masteries, but still not too bad. It’s just that wood, stone, and metal tend to be more prevalent in places that adventurers go exploring.
(1) Wood Mastery: Perhaps less universally applicable than Metal Mastery, but it still does good work. Notable for the QoL spells (grove of respite, sturdy tree fort) that Metal Mastery lacks.
(3) Artifice Mastery: It’s an open secret that crafting is one of the best things you can do for your team to stretch your wealth by level, but without any bonus feats it’s usually difficult for Oracles to do effectively. A couple decent spells and a bonus feat later, though, and hey presto, you’re ready to get to it. Does even better with Engineering Mastery.
(7) Construct Mastery: I’m a suuuper big fan of Craft Construct, even if it’s costly and time-consuming to attempt. All the more reason to get started early, amirite?
Role
As you might expect, the Intrigue Mystery excels in campaigns that have lots of opportunity for spying, disguises, Divination magic, trickery, and stealth, relegating it to a Recon role. If you’re playing something like Curse of the Crimson Throne, Hell’s Rebels, or War for the Crown, take a serious look, because the Mystery is a blast to play. (Full disclosure: I currently play an Intrigue Oracle in Hell’s Rebels.) Intrigue doesn’t have any straightforward combat skills to offer, but attempts to close the gap with utility, mind control, and lots of metainformation through Divination magic.
Recon > Debuffing, Utility > Anticaster, Skills > Blasting, Control, Melee, Ranged, Summoning, Support, Tank
Bonus Skills
With a CHA focus, Bluff is never a bad choice for an Oracle, especially one who expects to push pawns about like a chess game. Stealth, likewise, is integral to the playstyle. In most games, I’d give Sleight of Hand a pretty low rating, but this is probably an intrigue game you’re playing, so it may actually be quite useful. Lastly, Disguise is the black sheep of the bunch. A single rank coupled with the Assumed Form Revelation will be all you ever need to go incognito.
Bonus Spells
(2) Charm Person: Fail a save, gain a friend, that’s the charm person way. Good, workhorse Enchantment spell that will serve you well throughout your career.
(4) False Belief: The extraordinarily long casting time on false belief complicates its utility. You could cast it on a willing ally in order to cheat on a lie detector test, or cast it on a sleeping or helpless enemy. There’s no save allowed, which is great, but a limited duration. It would definitely be a scroll spell if it appeared on the Oracle list; it’s not something even intrigue campaigns will call for every day.
(6) Suggestion: One of those spells that only gets better the more creatively it’s used. Suggestion can end encounters—or prevent them from occurring in the first place—and deserves a place with the stars for that.
(8) Sending: What sending lacks in message length and casting time it more than makes up for in range: you can even contact creatures on other planes of existence, albeit with a small chance of failure. What’s more, sending is utterly untraceable, a feature that intrigue campaigns might value greatly.
(10) True Seeing: You know how disguise effects, invisibility, darkness, etc., can all make life a living hell? True seeing is pretty much the one-stop shop for effective counters. Unlike the Dragon Mystery, you get the spell on time, too.
(12) Symbol of Persuasion: How on earth are you going to cast this when it costs 5,000 gp a pop?
(14) Greater Scrying: Peerless Divination magic. You’ll get up to aaaaaaall kinds of shenanigans with this baby.
(16) Mind Blank: You’re now outright immune to Divination effects, and have a very good chance of resisting any [mind-affecting] magic thrown your way. It’s a defensive power that might look limited to newer players, but by this level, everyone and their mom is going to be attempting scrying and mind control.
(18) Overwhelming Presence: Lots of perks here: enemies are helpless and can be coup de graced easily; failed saves are basically game over for the combat; saves that are failed and then passed result in a pretty hefty hit to WIS; and even passed saves get you some benefits. Symbol of persuasion excepted, Intrigue has a very solid spell list.
Revelations
(1) Assumed Form: Starting off with a bang! Sure, a hat of disguise is a pretty cheap magical item that can accomplish the same thing, but later iterations of the Revelation give you unlimited alter self and all the goodies that go along with that. It’s just so much fun to become a different person every time someone sees you, and even help you cement a reputation as a large-scale operation, even if you’re only one PC.
(1) Desire Sight: I wish you got more uses per day; a single passed Will save will shut you down, hard. Still, if you know that you’re going to be interacting with the same people time and time again, Desire Sight can give you fuel for your webs of intrigue.
(1) Hidden Magic: Conceal Spell isn’t as effective at what it wants to do as I’d like. If you want to discreetly cast charm person in a crowded ballroom, for example, you still need to speak loudly, and others will get at least two opposed checks to notice that you’re casting. Pump skills as much as you like—eventually the dice aren’t going to break your way, and then the penalties could be stiff.
(1) Poetic Vengeance: The Revelation resolves after the attack, curse, SLA, etc., so it might cripple or kill you before you even get a chance to enact your vengeance. Revelations are precious resources, and I’ve never seen this one as being worth a pick.
(1) Veiled Venom: Don’t use poisons. Yep. That’s all the advice that I have for you.
(1) Whispered Glimpses: Oracles are naturally great at face skills, but not so great at noticing when others are screwing with them. Not anymore. Along with Assumed Form, probably your early-level Revelation pick.
(7) Forgotten Presence: Man, you’d really better hope that your target fails that Will save. If they don’t, they’ll know exactly what you did, and they’ll know that you tried to make them forget. Against commoners or other useful pawns in your games, though, you’re golden.
(7) Gossip Guru: I really, really want to like Gossip Guru, but rumormonger just isn’t that great of a spell, even in intrigue-heavy campaigns. You’re relying too much on multiple failed saves.
(7) Mirrored Retreat: A really solid “Oh, shit” button, the only marks against Mirrored Retreat are the full-round casting time and the Illusion (Figment) effect, which won’t affect everyone.
(11) Tracer Touch: Best used on objects or locations. Vicarious view is a pretty good Divination spell, and lets you expand your sphere of influence even further. Very on-brand.
Role
Juju: hoo boy, what a complex topic. The skinny: Paizo originally published the Juju Mystery in their Serpent’s Skull campaign, with the intent that it would be used only by NPCs. This original is not legal for PFS play (Paizo’s usual method of designating spells, feats, etc. as either overly powerful or else NPC-only) not least because the RAW made it possible to raise Undead of a non-Evil alignment—which goes against the Golarion campaign setting, where all Undead come from the Negative Energy Plane and are inherently Evil-aligned. In addition to the setting conflict, the original Juju Mystery was wicked powerful, creating intelligent Undead with class levels, raising the HD cap on command undead, maximizing the hit points of your Juju zombies, making the crafting of Juju Fetishes that delivered touch spells at range criminally easy, and so on. Like I said: powerful.
Then along came Faiths & Philosophies, which also contained an Oracle Mystery called the Juju Mystery. What had Paizo changed? Well, pretty much anything having to do with Undead. You still got some hybrid Summoning/Debuffing flavor, but for the most part, the Bones Mystery was back to sitting at the top of the necromantic heap. Well, you can imagine the reaction: players on the Paizo boards flipped out, a couple of flame wars ensued, and the eventual conclusion was that GMs should treat the Mysteries as distinct. If you want to allow non-Evil Undead, go ahead and allow OG Juju; if you don’t, don’t. Otherwise, carry on as you like unless you’re in PFS.
Now, I have no horse in this race. I just review the damn Revelations and I’ll review both side by side here. I do think the OG Juju is a lot more flavorful, but I can also see it being way too OP for play; additionally, the Revelations in OG Juju tend to be very hit-or-miss, whereas the new Juju is more consistent. My advice would be to make sure you know what both Mysteries are about if you’re GMing—they’ll have very different consequences in your games—and come up with reasonable restrictions on Undead creation if you’re playing. Summons of any kind can be huge pains for GMs, who are already juggling so much; make sure you’re not adding a crippling amount to their workload just so you can get a kick out of stomping every encounter with a Juju zombie army. Oh, and also remember that this is the rare Mystery based on a real cultural heritage, so do try to be respectful, do your research, broaden your mind, and avoid stereotypes if you can. Thanx.
Summoning > Debuffing > Anticaster, Recon, Skills, Utility > Blasting, Control, Melee, Ranged, Support, Tank
Bonus Skills
Bluff, Intimidate, and Knowledge (Nature) you can’t go wrong with. Survival is a little less useful in most circumstances, and Perform (Oratory) flat-out stinks unless you’re multiclassing with Bard for some reason. Hmmm, that gives me a good gestalt idea...
Bonus Spells
(2: OG/New) Speak with Animals: Of limited use, potentially, but then you never do know what animals have witnessed. Always interesting to give GMs a chance to reveal information through unusual sources.
(4: OG/New) Hideous Laughter: With two saves, SR, the [mind-affecting] tag, and a save bonus for creatures that aren’t your brand of humanoids, I’d say there’s very little chance hideous laughter will do much for ya.
(6: OG/New) Fear: No HD cap, multiple targets, and a harder-hitting debuff all make fear a much better spell than cause fear. Panicked is an amazing condition that forces enemies to drop equipment, burn spell slots to get away from you, and more. Setting up an AoO cascade with an ally with Combat Reflexes can be a lot of fun with fear, too.
(8: OG/New) Charm Monster: Ah, a great spell. At days/level, you’ll be using charm monster to essentially turn monsters into cohorts. Try to pick ones that can reason with you so that you won’t necessarily have to kill them in the end.
(10: OG) Create Undead: You’ll start to be able to create the classic Juju Zombie starting at 11th level, and the Juju template being pretty insane, you’ll definitely be glad to pick this power up.
(10: New) Mass Suggestion: Sliiightly more lackluster than create undead, but not by a whole lot. Also in keeping with the idea of the Juju Mystery having mastered mind control.
(12: OG) Magic Jar: Remember that you die if the duration expires while the gem is outside of a certain range of your body. Teleporting Outsiders and the like can and will kill you!
(12: New) Contact Other Plane: The risk of catastrophic INT and CHA damage is too terrible to contemplate.
(14: OG) Creeping Doom: Swarms are powerful, powerful, powerful, and these guys are terrifying to casters (thanks, Distraction DC that scales with spell save DC) and martials (thanks, DEX damage) alike. Nice addition to the spell list.
(14: New) Summon Nature’s Ally VII: Fire and Frost Giants, T-Rexes...you’ve got a lot of good options. I think I’d still take the swarms from creeping doom in an all-else-being-equal fight, but they can’t fly, swim, or leverage any resistances or immunities. SNA is probably more versatile.
(16: OG) Trap the Soul: Super expensive, but then again, you can seal away any enemy in a soul gem with no save, then launch it into outer space. Bye bye, BBEG.
(16: New) Mass Charm Monster: A tragic turn of events for charm monster. The HD cap is 100% not worth it. You can either use two 4th-level slots to cast charm monster twice, or one 8th-level slot to get the same effect. No, sir, we don’t encourage that kind of behavior here.
(18: OG/New) Shapechange: Patently amazing. This is, what, five 7th- or 8th-level spells rolled into one? Each form brings its own strengths, immunities, and resistances to the table, so there should be no situation that you’re unprepared for. Fantastic as a spell known, and your starting duration is a whopping 3 hours.
Revelations
(1: OG/New) Beast Tongue: You get to speak with only one kind of animal, and besides, speak with animals is your Mystery’s 1st-level spell, which you can’t swap out. What more do you want?
(1: New) Connaissance: The bonus is technically smaller than moment of prescience, but even at a reduced bonus, that’s still an 8th-level spell you’re getting, many times per day on just about any check you could want. You’ll probably want to use it defensively, for AC or a save; hard to imagine an Oracle being super jazzed to use combat maneuvers.
(1: OG) Craft Juju Fetish: Crafting juju fetishes isn’t something that most people would do, but you’re not most people. Black Blessing is pretty bad, but the others, particularly the Ganji Doll and Laubo Powder, are particularly good. You’re limited to humanoids, though, which may not be of much use in some campaigns. Don’t spring for the Greater Ganji Doll—you’re there for the augmentation of touch-range spells, nothing more.
(1: OG/New) False Death/Ensnare the Soul: Different names, identical effect. Because the Disguise bit is mostly fluff, all you’re getting here is charm person and dominate person on your spell list, which you then have to purchase with your precious spells known. I think you’ll have the save DCs to make that work from time to time, but again, you’re heavily reliant on facing humanoids.
(1: New) Juju Senses: Quite a bit better than the OG’s Juju Sight, which it was clearly meant to supplant. Identifying magical effects never goes out of style, and you’ll fight a lot of Undead, Outsiders, etc. in your day.
(1: OG) Juju Sight: Highly specific to fighting other wendifa. Way too specific, one might say.
(1: OG) Natural Divination: Using all your Natural Divinations can be done at the end of the adventuring day, where they’ll stay fresh all the way until you rest again. And these are some flexible, powerful bonuses! Initiative, saves, skill checks...it’s all there.
(1: OG) Reminder of Death: Halt undead is a pretty terrible spell, so, yeah. No.
(1: New) Spiritual Defense: All the protection from [alignment] and magic circle against [alignment] you could want. Those are good spells, so heck yeah, you should want this Revelation.
(1: OG) Spirit Vessels: This Revelation is grossly, absurdly overpowered. You can control 50% more HD of Undead as most casters, and all your zombies get maxed-out HP. Paizo probably nerfed the Mystery for this specific Revelation as much as anything.
(1: OG) Undead Servitude: As if Spirit Vessels weren’t enough, you can now Command Undead, as the feat. What’s more, your CHA modifier is going to be higher than any Cleric’s, so you’ll do it even better than those pansy Urgathoa worshipers.
(5: New) Summon Nature’s Spirits: We always love summoning spells, especially with Augment Summoning tacked on for free. 1/day knocks the rating down a bit, but at least the power scales with you.
(7: New) Unwilling Host: Give it even a few more uses per day, and I’d rate it green. At 1/day, though, I can’t endorse Unwilling Host very enthusiastically.
(11: OG) Dream Haunter: By the time you acquire this Revelation, you’ll probably have the CHA modifier to use it every day. It’s good for keeping BBEGs on their toes, but it’s [mind-affecting] and can lead to trouble if a caster is smart enough to dispel evil on you. Perhaps better not to attract attention.
(11: New) Night Terror: Similar to the Dream Haunter that it replaced, but with a few key differences. Notably, you get to full attack, targeting Touch AC and adding your CHA mod instead of STR. You also get to use it every day—no more “1 + CHA modifier, but no more than once a day” shenaniganry. Anyway, this version is quite a bit better. Still not awe-inspiring, but you’ll start to deal enough damage that, combined with fatigue/exhaustion, enemies should start to be worried about their efficacy.
(11: OG/New) Path of the Snake: Good scouting ability. Not much more needs to be said.
Role
The Life Oracle looks at the Support role and thinks, “Ah, screw it, I’ve had enough of focusing on other things. Let’s make sure that every single round involves a veritable deluge of HP flowing from me to my teammates.” Between Channel Positive Energy, Life Link, Energy Body, Spirit Boost, and spells like heal given to you for free, there should be very few instances in which anyone on your team dies from HP damage. (Save-or-die spells, [death] effects, baleful polymorph, petrification, etc. are still threats, though!) It’s a strong Mystery overall, boasting a who’s-who of blue-rated healing and support spells for free. To compensate for your niche strength, there’s hardly any versatility, but that’s what your remaining spells known are for: become a summoner, a debuffer, a team buffer, etc.
Support > Tank > Anticaster, Blasting, Control, Debuffing, Melee, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning, Utility
Bonus Skills
The Life Mystery, perhaps to compensate for its bonkers everything else, has a lackluster skill set. Knowledge (Nature) is your best get, with Survival of only occasional usefulness and Handle Animal irrelevant entirely.
Bonus Spells
(2) Detect Undead: Hmm. Wouldn’t be my first pick of a 1st-level spell known, but it’ll do. Not like Undead are uncommon.
(4) Lesser Restoration: Stand down, poisons! Don’t let that ability damage slow your roll. The restoration line of spells is one that every Oracle should have, but not many can spare the spell slots for. Getting it gratis is, well, amazing.
(6) Neutralize Poison: I think you can get by with a scroll of neutralize poison, but sure, spell known is fine.
(8) Restoration: The blue train keeps rollin’ on through the restoration line. Next stop, greater restoration station.
(10) Breath of Life: Your first resurrection magic, and boy, is it important. You’d hate to have to use it, but chances are good that you will at some point or another.
(12) Heal: The best healing spell in the game, without even a whiff of competition. It’s nice that heal can be turned into harm against Undead, as needed.
(14) Greater Restoration: And the last one! Still as perfect as all the others.
(16) Mass Heal: Cool, so now you’re keeping the entire party from imminent death. The CL cap is even higher, too, so you can start healing 160, 170 HP instead of a flat 150.
(18) True Resurrection: If you’ve got enough money, you never need to worry about teammates dying ever again.
Revelations
(1) Channel: Yeah, absolutely! Channeling requires some feat investment (Selective Channel at a bare minimum) to become viable in combat, but outside of combat it’s a really solid source of healing that will save you a lot of money on wands of cure light wounds in the long run.
(1) Delay Affliction: A marginally useful Revelation, at best. Curing and avoiding poisons/diseases should be your goals, not delaying when they take effect.
(1) Energy Body: If you’re using this power offensively against Undead, you’re using it wrong. And the truly potent part of this Revelation isn’t even that you can heal allies by moving over their square! No, the best part is that you gain the Elemental subtype, which confers immunity to bleed damage, critical hits, flanking, paralysis, poison, precision damage, sleep effects, and stun effects. That is an A+ package.
(1) Enhanced Cures: Doesn’t work on wands, only spells that you yourself cast. It’s decent, I guess, but less powerful than you think.
(1) Healing Hands: No one uses the Heal skill when magical healing is available.
(1) Life Link: *Spins chair around* Okay, kids. Lemme rap atcha about Life Link for a second. Y’all might have heard about “Oradins.” I’m here to clear up some misconceptions. Life Link is powerful because it streamlines the action economy greatly, healing every party member in a single non-action. Having your comrades healed without any action input from you leaves you free to heal yourself, which is where the Paladin levels come in handy. Paladins can use Lay on Hands on themselves as a swift action. The net effect is that you can, in essence, heal all your teammates as a swift action every turn. That’s pretty boss. *Spins chair back around* Glad we could have this talk.
(1) Safe Curing: Thankfully, the spell doesn’t specify that this has to be a cure spell, meaning heal, mass heal, breath of life, healing flames, etc. are all fair game.
(1) Spirit Boost: Another improvement to the action economy! Spirit Boost lets you use your healing spells proactively, rather than reactively. To whit: you know that your Barbarian buddy is going to take some hits during combat. If things get bad enough, you’ll have to heal. But what if there’s another critical task that requires your attention at that moment—say, using breath of life before another teammate shuffles of the mortal coil? Without Spirit Boost, you’d be shit out of luck. With Spirit Boost, you can hit your Barbarian with a cure light wounds in the surprise round and feel content in the knowledge that you won’t need to devote as much attention to him for the rest of the fight. The number of temporary HP that you can grant is unfortunately limited to your Oracle level, which knocks the usefulness down a bit, but it’s still excellent for front-line fighters that you know will be taking some pain.
(7) Combat Healer: Snooze. You need to expend two spell slots, cure spells never get very powerful, wands don’t count, and there are limited uses per day. You have many better options.
(11) Lifesense: Blindsight is by no means common. As the name implies, it only works against living creatures, but that’s still a sizeable portion of the game’s foes.
Role
Lore Oracles—or as I like to call them, Loracles—are Skills specialists and Wizard stand-ins. They get access to a bunch of Divination spells, either through their spell list or through a Revelation; they get all the Knowledge skills on their class list, as well as a way to add your CHA modifier to the checks; they even get a fantastic combat Revelation, Sidestep Secret, that lets them dump DEX and focus entirely on STR, INT, and CHA. If your party needs the skill monkey/Divination aspects of a Wizard and the divine magic of a Cleric at the same time, Lore will probably fit the bill for both, albeit at a slightly lower threshold than either a Wizard or a Cleric would. Lore isn’t quite as flashy as its neighbors, but it holds a special place in my heart as a fan of INT-based classes.
Skills, Utility > Recon > Melee, Tank > Anticaster, Blasting, Control, Debuffing, Ranged, Summoning, Support
Bonus Skills
As much as any CHA-based class can be, Lore is the Knowledge Jockey of all Oracle Mysteries, which is why it shouldn’t come as any surprise that you get every Knowledge skill added to your list. Appraise, well, Appraise is garbage, and you know it.
Bonus Spells
(2) Identify: You know as well as I do that this spell isn’t particularly relevant in the combat meta of Pathfinder, but it’s a serviceable QoL improvement that you’ll do well enough with.
(4) Tongues: Now that is interesting. You’re getting a 4th-level spell as a 2nd-level spell, and a good one, at that. With the Oracle’s ability to act convincingly as the party face, tongues gives you a lot more leeway in who—or occasionally what—you’re negotiating with.
(6) Locate Object: It’s just not a great spell, with a niche effect and numerous methods of foiling detection. Sorry.
(8) Legend Lore: You’re once again getting fairly powerful Divination magic well before you’re supposed to, but that ahead-of-the-curvedness only makes the expensive material and focus components that much harder to swallow. Legend lore would be a scroll in my life, not a spell known.
(10) Contact Other Plane: Even with the Mental Acuity Revelation making this spell a little less dangerous, it’s still a straight INT check to avoid having your INT and CHA drop to 8 for weeks at a time. If you fail that save, you might as well have an allied Gunslinger put a bullet through your head, because it’s game over for a full caster whose casting stat is at a -1 penalty. Only Wizards with ungodly INT scores should ever use contact other plane, and then only in dire situations.
(12) Owl’s Wisdom, Mass: Pretty solidly yellow, as by this level enhancement bonuses won’t exactly be hard to find. Still, it’s the best mental stat boost for martial characters, and even casters with strong Will progressions can appreciate a bit more on top.
(14) Vision: Although legend lore is standard if you’re in the location you want to learn about, vision is nice because the casting time never increases depending on what you know about the subject. Simply pop it before you sleep for some free information—assuming you’ve got the cash on hand, that is.
(16) Moment of Prescience: Flexible, giant bonus wherever you need it most. You’ll know it when you see it.
(18) Time Stop: The truly sick-nasty trump card held by all Wizards. Buff your party to the teeth, drop a planar petting zoo’s worth of summons on the field, set up four walls of clockwork around enemies...the world’s your oyster for 1d4+1 rounds.
Revelations
(1) Automatic Writing: Lore leans heavily on Divination, so don’t even consider this Mystery unless you know that your GM is on board with providing you meta-information about the campaign. If they are, great! All the spells included here are good ones, especially every day, especially with no spell slots, and especially especially with no material costs. Helps keep your party on the right track with very little investment.
(1) Brain Drain: Weak blast with weak effects. Lore Oracles don’t need to resort to anything this crude to get information.
(1) Focused Trance: Don’t use this power in combat—being unable to attack or cast spells for 1d6 rounds is never, ever worth it. Rolling Knowledge or Spellcraft checks outside of combat is absolutely fair game, though, and the bonus is hefty hefty hefty.
(1) Lore Keeper: Another the Mystery-defining Revelation, Lore Keeper lets you do as Wizards and Investigators do, taking advantage of all those class skills to make great Knowledge checks. Unfortunately, you’ll never have as many skill ranks as INT-based classes, even with Mental Acuity. The sad irony is that Lore Keeper almost disincentivizes you from taking Mental Acuity, because you’re not getting boosts to your main skill checks as your INT grows. The Revelation is still highly thematic and useful for Loracles, so take it!
(1) Sidestep Secret: With AC and Reflex saves taken care of, there’s very little reason not to go all in on STR/CHA as a Lore Oracle. You’ll get the same bump to CMD with STR as with DEX, and considerably better carrying capacity, etc. Fabulous Revelation, and you’ll see me rate these types of Revelations as blue consistently.
(1) Think On It: Only of use in combat, where Focused Trance can’t trounce it (pun intended). It’s skippable.
(1) Whirlwind Lesson: Tomes and manuals come up but once in a blue moon, and spending a Revelation to make the process a little faster definitely isn’t worth it.
(7) Mental Acuity: If you stick with Lore all the way through, you’ll end up with a +5 inherent bonus to INT. You could purchase that with a tome of clear thought, sure, but it would set you back 137,500 gp. It’s rare that you know exactly what a Revelation is worth, but hey, first time for everything. This is less important for you than for a Wizard or Arcanist, especially if you took Lore Keeper, but it does at least give you more skill ranks and, I dunno, help you out of mazes or whatever.
(11) Arcane Archivist: Why on earth would you make the spells disappear from the spellbook after casting, Paizo? Haven’t you tormented us enough? Well, I suppose you can always keep an enemy’s spellbook around, then copy into your own as needed. Only your copy is erased, not the other party’s. Probably bumps up to blue with the Cypher Script feat.
(11) Spontaneous Symbology: The problem with the symbol line of spells isn’t that they’re spells known, it’s that they usually have HD caps and always have ridiculously expensive material components. Maybe NPCs could get away with that, but not PCs who have places to go and free market economies to prop up. (#Abadar4Lyfe)
Role
The Lunar Mystery is doing a lot of stuff right. With a CHA-to-AC power, natural weapons, an animal companion, and plenty of self-buffs, I think the strongest case to make is for a STR-based Combat build. There are a few Revelations and spells that are overly biased toward fighting lycanthropes or rely too heavily on Fortitude saves, but for the most part, it’s a strong, well-rounded Mystery that can hold its own in many circumstances. Your go-to move will probably be to self-buff with your first standard action as you get positioned, then manifest your natural weapons, flank with your buddy, and tear your foes apart. Rage, moonstruck, and litany of madness all shut down casters pretty hard, so I think there’s a great argument for speccing as a Magehunter, as well.
Anticaster, Melee > Debuffing, Recon, Summoning, Tank > Support, Utility > Blasting, Control, Ranged, Skills
Bonus Skills
Finally, a Mystery that gets Perception added to the class list! About damn time. You’re probably half-beast yourself, so the inclusion of Knowledge (Nature) and Survival makes plenty of sense. Acrobatics will generally get you out of tight spots, although you may not have much DEX to speak of if you dumped it for Prophetic Armor.
Bonus Spells
(2) Fumbletongue: You get the same spell failure chance as the deafened condition; with a Will save, SR, and a duration that doesn’t scale with your level, however, fumbletongue can’t help but drop off in effectiveness as you progress.
(4) Dust of Twilight: Beaten easily by daylight, and a Fortitude save to negate. Probably as weak as fumbletongue, in the long term.
(6) Rage: If you’re here in Lunar, you’re probably going with a melee build. Rage is always a good spell for melee combatants…but you need to cast. Barring an investment in the Furious Spell metamagic feat, you should cast this on other martial teammates or use it to shut down enemy casters. (This includes psychic casters!)
(8) Moonstruck: “It’s Cosmo’s moon!” Moonstruck is a strange spell, and you can go one of two ways with it. Either cast it on a martial enemy, trusting that they’ll attack other vulnerable targets on the backline (dealing some damage to themselves along the way!) but knowing that if they reach you, they’ll be pretty deadly; or toss it on a caster, trusting them not to be a physical threat and knowing that you’ve forced them out of casting. Bear in mind that martials tend to have lower Will saves.
(10) Aspect of the Wolf: Bull’s strength, cat’s grace, scent, and a few Trip goodies, all packaged up together. A solidly good melee buff spell, especially if you’re fighting bipedal creatures.
(12) Litany of Madness: The litany line is one of my favorites for Inquisitors, primarily because they can be cast as swift actions and don’t allow a save. The wording here is a bit funny, and may allow someone to save before they act, thereby nullifying the spell just as an initial save would. But the duration also says one round, which seems to indicate that you get a grace period before the saves set in. Either way, good stuff.
(14) Lunar Veil: Absolutely unnecessary unless you fight lycanthropes all the time.
(16) Blood Mist: [Poison] effect, SR, and Fortitude negates. *Head smack.* You could conceivably use this to get a large pack of weaker enemies to tear each other apart, but far too many enemies are immune or strongly resistant to poison, even setting aside the question of saves. Too weak for this level.
(18) Polar Midnight: Ah, cool. I’m a fan of polar midnight generally, as it’s among the better 9th-level spells available to Oracles.
Revelations
(1) Eye of the Moon: For Humans, Halflings, and other races without innate darkvision. The 11th level bonus is largely irrelevant.
(1) Gift of Claw and Horn: Lunar Oracles are pretty ideally suited to STR-based melee combat, and Gift of Claw and Horn is a big reason for that. If you have only one natural attack, it’s always treated as primary, so you get your full BAB and 1.5x your STR bonus to damage. I’d recommend bite or gore in order to keep your hands free for casting and melee weapons. The swift action is great, and you’ll never run out of duration in later levels.
(1) Mantle of Moonlight: Lycanthropes are rare, which means that Mantle of Moonlight is primarily used as either a buff on a melee ally or a debuff on an enemy caster. There’s no save, so if you touch someone and they don’t have SR, they’re gone. Definitely a solid magehunting tool.
(1) Moonbeam: The blindness is the biggest selling point, but again, Fortitude saves are the ones you want to target least as you get on in level.
(1) Moonlight Bridge: Rule of Cool gets Moonlight Bridge up to a yellow-green. Sure, everyone will fly eventually, but in the meantime, why not walk across chasms on a bridge of solid fucking moonlight? (/u/mundanegeneric points out that the Revelation text says “in any direction,” which may potentially include vertically; this would give you early access to a miniature wall of force, and almost certainly earn a blue rating. Talk with your GM about that interpretation!)
(1) Moonlit Script: As Automatic Writing from the Lore Mystery. These are great Divination spells that you get for free.
(1) Primal Companion: Ha! Holy shit. Yes. You’ll want to stick with the mammals, just for ease of movement. Tigers get Pounce, Bears get Grab, and Wolves get Trip. Your call which to take, but an absolute must at 1st or 3rd level.
(1) Prophetic Armor: As with Sidestep Secret in the Lore Mystery, Prophetic Armor is simply phenomenal, making it possible to go all-in on STR and CHA without sacrificing much of anything. Make sure you get it no later than 3rd level, but you really should get it at 1st.
(7) Form of the Beast: It’s essentially Wild Shape reflavored as an Oracle Revelation. And who doesn’t like Wild Shape? It’s incredibly useful for scouting and combat.
(7) Touch of the Moon: Far too tame for this level.
Role
I like how quickly the core style of the Metal Mystery coalesces. Skill At Arms at 1st level, pick yourself up a greatsword, grab Armor Mastery at 3rd level, and by 6th you’re dealing 3d6 + 1.5*STR damage with a 17-20/x2 crit range, all while decked out in some pretty unbeatable armor. Statue and wall of iron give you some cool defensive and battlefield control options later, as do some of the Revelations like Iron Constitution and Iron Skin. For the most part, however, Metal is a straightforward Combat juggernaut; it’s got a better endgame spell list than Battle, and more consistently useful Revelations to choose from.
Melee, Tank > Debuffing, Support, Utility > Anticaster, Blasting, Control, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning
Bonus Skills
Intimidate and Bluff round out the face skills nicely, but there aren’t any bonuses that would turn Intimidate into a viable combat style, unlike Outer Rifts or Godclaw. Disable Device is thematically perfect for tinkerers with metal; it runs into problems with the humongous armor check penalties and low DEX scores you’ll likely go with while wearing medium or heavy armor. This is the Metal Mystery: you were expecting to be formidably clad in the stuff, no? Last and eternally least, Appraise has no mechanical purpose on a CHA-based caster with few skill ranks. Even Wizards and Alchemists dump only one rank in for the sake of the class bonus.
Bonus Spells
(2) Lead Blades: I can’t fricking believe they gave us lead blades. It’s an A+ Ranger-only spell that greatly increases your weapon damage. If you’re wielding a humble longsword, you go from an average of 4.5 damage per roll to an average of 7; wield a greatsword, and you’re going from a mean of 7 damage to a mean of 10.5. Grab a wand of enlarge person, and the damage starts to spike up into even more unbelievable levels.
(4) Heat Metal: Damage is paltry in later levels, and even enemies at this level won’t be too bothered by the damage.
(6) Keen Edge: Nice long duration that saves you from having to keen your weapon. Sure, why not? If you get the lead blades + enlarge person + keen edge combo going, you’re a pretty terrifying melee force to contend with.
(8) Versatile Weapon: Because it’s functionally equivalent to greater magic weapon, you get all those tasty enhancement bonuses stacked on top of each other, as well as DR penetration for some fairly obscure types. It’ll keep you putting out damage when you need to, which is all we care about.
(10) Major Creation: Bit of an odd duck on the spell list. Major creation is decently versatile, but it isn’t fast, which makes it of dubious use in combat scenarios. I’m honestly not sure what I’d do with it, because objects created by major creation can’t be used as spell or crafting components.
(12) Wall of Iron: Wall of clockwork has nearly identical HP and Hardness, and comes one level earlier; the spell only lasts minutes/level, though, so wall of iron is your default choice if you need something permanent. It’s a great spell, as all walls are, but a wee bit redundant.
(14) Statue: Assuming your GM rules that this spell works as it seems to, simply granting you Hardness 8 without any detrimental effects on your turn, that’s pretty frickin’ sweet. Hell, now that I come to think of it, you should get Hardness 10, because you’re turning into iron, not stone.
(16) Repel Metal or Stone: Sets up a kind of invisible conveyor belt ideal for guarding hallways and other narrow passages. If anyone tries to come back, just toss some boulders in and watch the fireworks. Fairly dependent on fighting enemies with arms and armor, which isn’t all of them.
(18) Iron Body: As with the Ascetic Mystery, a fantastic self-buff. What more needs to be said?
Revelations
(1) Armor Mastery: I know Armor Mastery gets a bit of guff as a Fighter class feature, but Fighters have loads of other defensive abilities and a larger hit die than Oracles. For Oracles, I quite like it! Between Armor Mastery and Skill At Arms, you can grab a greatsword to match your spell list, and mithral full plate to take advantage of normal movement speed, amazing AC, low ACPs, and quite decent max DEX bonuses. Coupled with Fighting Defensively, you can make yourself far tankier on the battlefield.
(1) Dance of the Blades: Great for charging and skirmishing. You probably won’t have the Acrobatics skill to avoid AoOs, so this is mostly for switch targets once your first target dies. Miss chances are always a plus. Solidly B+ ability.
(1) Iron Constitution: That’s a definite yup. Fortitude saves = bad, and they’re one of your weak saves.
(1) Iron Weapon: You’ve got versatile weapon on your spell list, so Iron Weapon is only of real use if your primary weapon gets taken from you. Mostly skippable.
(1) Riddle of Steel: Definitely skippable unless you’re going very specifically for a crafting build. Those aren’t too common for Oracles.
(1) Rusting Grasp: Many of the deadliest enemies in Pathfinder have absolutely no need of metal armor or weaponry in order to destroy you. Rusting grasp is powerful against those objects, true, but that’s why it’s more often used against PCs, who rely almost exclusively on metal arms and armor.
(1) Skill At Arms: Martial weapons are better than simple weapons, by and large, and in lieu of a CHA-to-AC Revelation, getting heavy armor, taking Armor Mastery, and then dumping DEX is probably the most optimal move. Get the highest weapon damage die you can—probably a greatsword—in order to take advantage of lead blades.
(1) Steel Scarf: It’s uncommon to get swift action attacks (attacks made with the Hurtful feat are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head) so you should take advantage while you can. The reach is good and can help you deal a little more damage when you need it.
(7) Vision in Iron: The Revelation saves you some cash, but otherwise the duration simply can’t compete with the spell versions of scrying and greater scrying. You won’t learn much from a maximum of two minutes of spying per day.
(11) Iron Skin: Unclear whether you need to pay the component cost for stoneskin. If it’s free, solidly blue; if it’s not, it’s still easily green, maybe even blue. DR/Adamantine is simply too good.
Role
Nature is a bit of a polarizing Mystery. On the one hand, its Revelation list is really good: CHA to AC, an animal companion of near-human intelligence, summon nature’s ally spells with huge save bonuses, and Sunder-happy Revelations like Undo Artifice and Erosion Touch really pump everything up. On the other hand, the spell list is easily one of the weakest of the Paizo-official Mysteries, and is therefore a prime candidate to swap out using archetypes. Given that one of the best Revelations in the Mystery involves mounted combat, you’d be at least encouraged to look at Small-size races for Nature Oracles. With CHA to AC and CMD, small size bonuses, and mounted movement, races like Halflings and Gnomes can make extraordinarily tanky, mobile spellcasters, ideally suited to a sturdy Summoning role.
Summoning > Tank, Utility > Debuffing, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Support > Anticaster, Blasting, Control, Melee
Bonus Skills
Climb, Swim, Survival, and Fly are all lackluster: with the exception of Fly, probably good only for a single rank. Knowledge (Nature) is thematically consistent and useful for identifying animals, vermin, etc. Ride would be an unusual get in most Mysteries, but Nature has the excellent Bonded Mount Revelation that will make Ride ranks indispensable.
Bonus Spells
(2) Charm Animals: The SPCA won’t be happy about it, but charm animals essentially gives you a free, disposable animal companion that’s loosely under your control. Depending on the animal you charm, they might not need any incentive apart from some food to maul or track your enemies, scout for you, etc. You’ll probably want to acquire some method of speaking with animals (the Speak With Animals Revelation is a bit underwhelming) in order to fully take advantage.
(4) Barkskin: Amulets of Natural Armor are standard equipment for adventurers, but in case you don’t want to spend your hard-earned scratch on one, there’s always barkskin. Nice to have it available earlier, too—you won’t be able to save up for a +2 bonus for a while.
(6) Speak With Plants: Ah, plants. They almost never have an INT score, so getting a sensible answer out of one will be difficult. Probably yellow or red.
(8) Grove of Respite: Middle-of-the-road QoL spell. It won’t provide protection from enemy attacks, but the free goodberry and alarm spells are nice touches. 16-hour duration right off the bat means you can easily fit a night’s rest in.
(10) Awaken: It’s a cool RP spell, no doubt, but I’ve always wondered just how ethically complicated it is to grant a non-sentient creature sentience. Do they want consciousness? Have you made them an outcast from their own kind? Is it possible for them to find acceptance in this new world? Anyway, don’t cast this on your animal friends unless you want to take Leadership and try to woo them as cohorts. Remember: once you cast awaken, they’re people, not animals.
(12) Stone Tell: Is it really so much better than speak with plants? I dunno.
(14) Creeping Death: Sure, I’ll bite (pun very much intended). Four swarms is a lot, and these lil’ critters are immune to weapon damage. Definitely good for harassing casters, dealing a heaping helping of DEX damage, and generally making life complicated. You need to devote your standard action to controlling them, however, so the spell should be considered in light of the opportunity cost of casting other spells, attacking, etc.
(16) Animal Shapes: Kinda like communal Wild Shape, and again, good for scouting. People will probably want to stay in their original forms for fights, though.
(18) World Wave: The hours/level version is utterly obviated by teleport or overland flight, while the rounds/level version deals pitiful damage. A whole 6d6 at 18th level? Wow, you shouldn’t have. Really. You shouldn’t have.
Revelations
(1) Bonded Mount: Starting out strong, Nature! Mounts are really cool because they allow you to use your mount’s movement in place of your own. This opens up your action economy for other things. Depending on the companion you chose, these guys can also be pretty good attackers, and with a starting INT score of 6, they’re smarter than some humans you know, capable of rudimentary expressive communication and certainly of receptive language.
(1) Erosion Touch: It might not look like much, but Erosion Touch can actually do yeoman’s work in a variety of situations. Destroying sections of floor, wall, or ceiling, breaking enemies’ armor or weapons, smashing open locked chests, degrading component pouches or spellbooks, and damaging normally damage-resistant Constructs are all useful applications of the Revelation.
(1) Friend to the Animals: Getting all the summon nature’s ally spells would be enough to get ranked blue on its own. Adding in your CHA modifier to their saves—an easy +12 or +13 by endgame—is a crazy, bonkers-good upgrade.
(1) Natural Divination: Using all your Natural Divinations can be done at the end of the adventuring day, where they’ll stay fresh all the way until you rest again. And these are some flexible, powerful bonuses! Initiative, saves, skill checks...it’s all there.
(1) Nature’s Whispers: I think I’d rather get CHA to Reflex saves instead of CHA to CMD, but how can you be picky? The Revelation is still very, very much blue, and along with Friend to the Animals incentivizes you to pump that CHA score as high as possible. A mounted Halfling Nature Oracle would be a force to contend with.
(1) Speak with Animals: It’s far easier to get a wand of speak with animals and roll a UMD check to use it. Having to specify which animals you want to communicate with is a buzzkill of a requirement.
(1) Spirit of Nature: Wow, a whole 12 HP at 15th level? Really broke the power curve with that one, Paizo.
(1) Transcendental Bond: Because your mount has an INT score of at least 6, you can communicate telepathically with them! That’s pretty cool, and I’m sure an intentional design choice. Anyway, great QoL power that improves the accuracy and speed of communication in chaotic battle operations.
(7) Life Leech: The healing is interesting, but limited uses per day, a Fortitude save for half, and lackluster damage drag the Revelation down.
(11) Undo Artifice: What constitutes an “object”? Polymorph any object affects up to 100 cubic feet of material per level, so theoretically a Nature Oracle could go around turning entire towns into brick and timbers in no time flat. At the very least, Undo Artifice affects magical items where polymorph any object does not, so you can always use it as a pseudo-Sunder if you need to, turning weapons and armor into harmless piles of ore and leather. Ask your GM whether these raw materials are of equal value as the item—Undo Artifice gets a lot better if you get to keep all the steel, gold, and diamonds that the +4 longsword was made out of.
Role
The Occult Mystery feels kind of like Lore combined with Dark Tapestry, an aspiring Recon/Utility specialist. There’s plenty of Divination magic to go around, a few useful debuffing spells like spectral hand, and some other QoL goodies like the speak with dead effect from Voice of the Grave. The issue with Occult is that large swaths of the spell and Revelation lists are mediocre or downright bad; I think the Mystery would only achieve its true potential if combined with an archetype that gave you access to more Revelations and replaced the mid-to-high level spells. It’s not as bad as, say, Apocalypse, but overall Occult is just too focused on Divination (which some GMs won’t play along with) and fighting incorporeal enemies (which are mercifully rare) to make meaningful contributions in all contexts.
Recon > Debuffing, Utility > Ranged, Summoning, Tank > Anticaster, Blasting, Control, Melee, Skills, Support
Bonus Skills
Quite the decent skill list, actually. Disguise will almost never get used, but Bluff is a good face skill to have. You’d have a hard time being a master of the arcane arts without Knowledge (Arcana), and Use Magic Device reigns eternal as the skill that lets you steal other classes’ spells.
Bonus Spells
(2) Unseen Servant: He’ll open your doors! He’ll spring your traps! He’ll scare the horses! He’ll set the enemy’s tents on fire! He’ll steal the McGuffin! Seriously, unseen servant has so many uses, and your lil’ incorporeal pal can’t be killed, only dissipated for a bit. Not being able to use skills puts a dent in his utility, and he can’t move beyond close range naturally. That’s why you’re going to grab a rod of lesser metamagic with the Reach Spell quality: bump up your friendo to medium and even long range so that he can go on more covert ops.
(4) Spectral Hand: The hand can be destroyed by determined spellcasters, but martial enemies will be hard-pressed to destroy it, especially if you invest in DEX or INT at all. The Bad Touch close range debuffing playstyle works just as well with an Oracle as with a Cleric, so get ready to hit everything in sight with bestow curse and others of its ilk.
(6) Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: Good all-purpose surveillance spell.
(8) Scrying: At a casting time of one hour, scrying isn’t exactly the spell for jam-packed adventuring days. It’s best used in downtime to spy on your long-term enemies, gathering information and building hypotheses about who they are, what they want, and how you can defeat them.
(10) Contact Other Plane: How does this spell keep making it onto spell lists!? No, for (unfortunately not) the last time, you want no part of a spell that could result in your INT and CHA score being reduced to 8 for weeks on end.
(12) Project Image: It’s a bit like unseen servant had a baby with spectral hand. Wait, no, that’s creepy. Wait, no, this entire Mystery is creepy. It’s good, but is it 6th-level spell good? I’m unconvinced.
(14) Vision: I’d rather have legend lore, to be honest—how often do you need to recall a bunch of legendary information about a place or person within the span of a standard action? It could be useful in some instances, just not every day.
(16) Moment of Prescience: Flexible, giant bonus wherever you need it most. You’ll know it when you see it.
(18) Astral Projection: It’s not risk-free exploration, but it’s damn close. If you need to scout a dangerous planar location, consider astral projection before you dive in with your corporeal forms.
Revelations
(1) Automatic Writing: Occult has a lot in common with Lore in that they both rely heavily on Divination magic, so don’t even consider this Mystery unless you know that your GM is on board with providing you meta-information about the campaign. If they are, great! All the spells included here are good ones, especially every day, especially with no spell slots, and especially especially with no material costs. Helps keep your party on the right track with very little investment.
(1) Brain Drain: It’s just as crappy here as in Dark Tapestry and Lore. Pass.
(1) Ectoplasmic Armor: The ghost touch quality is a great +1 enchantment for weapons, but on armors it’s a +3 enchantment because it prevents incorporeals from targeting Touch AC with their attacks. That’s a pretty big deal! Armor Revelations are always worth taking, and Ectoplasmic Armor doubly so.
(1) Phantom Touch: It doesn’t say they get a save...I’m going to assume they don’t get a save. Most unhappily, your spectral hand cannot deliver Phantom Touches (it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen anyway) because the text of the spell specifies that only touch spells can be delivered; the Revelation is a (Su) ability. I think I’d probably pick Phantom Touch up at 7th level, when the panicked condition gets tacked on. Panicked is nasty.
(1) Spectral Spells: Of zero use unless you’re fighting incorporeal enemies. Experiences a minor uptick in usefulness in the later levels, when casters will often try to go incorporeal or ethereal.
(1) Sure Soul: The effects gained before 7th level are crap. The effects gained at 7th level and afterward are actually quite nice. You know when to take it, at least!
(1) Voice of the Grave: Speak with dead is a good spell for solving mysteries and getting more information, but unwilling creatures can always resist you. Voice of the Grave actually represents a nice upgrade over the spell for its stacking Will save debuff.
(7) Shroud of Retribution: Although the damage is meager, it is at least force damage, which can hurt incorporeals and pierces DR. Meh.
(11) Project Psyche: If you magic jar into an opponent, any other enemy with half a brain will notice that you’ve gone limp, assume you’re playing tricks, and coup de grace you at their earliest convenience. A 1/day dominate person/monster would have been much more effective.
(11) Spirit Walk: Ethereal jaunt as a Revelation. I won’t say no to a 7th-level spell.
Role
The Outer Rifts Mystery comes with quite a bit of Worldwound flavor; it makes sense that it would spend a lot of time combating (or emulating) Demonkind. The strongest argument to be made about Outer Rifts’ role, I believe, is as a Debuffer/Controller. Spells like resist energy and Revelations like Dread Resilience or Demonhide will make you far tankier than many casters, and that’s an excellent thing, but overall the chassis seems tailored around having a high CHA score for save DCs, SR penetration, and the various planar ally spells. Combats will usually include causing as much chaos as possible, through some combination of confusion, Planar Haze, Unearthly Terrain, and demoralize attempts using Wings of Terror. The Mystery is especially powerful in campaigns centered around fighting Evil or Chaotic Outsiders (think Wrath of the Righteous or Hell’s Rebels) where Rift Magic and Rift Weapon can really shine.
Control, Debuffing > Anticaster, Summoning, Tank > Melee, Ranged, Recon, Utility > Blasting, Skills, Support
Bonus Skills
Wings of Terror is one of the best Revelations of the bunch, which makes the inclusion of Fly and Intimidate no surprise. Both deserve as many ranks as you can reasonably give them. Knowledge (Arcana) seems like a strange inclusion for a planar-based Oracle, but seeing as Oracles already get Knowledge (Planes), I suppose Arcana is the next closest thing. Lastly, Survival is situational, as usual.
Bonus Spells
(2) Endure Elements: Only so-so as a spell known—it’s better for Oracles as a wand. Still, when you need environmental protections, there’s no real substitute for endure elements.
(4) Resist Energy: For the great taste that’ll fill you up and never let you down. Resist energy is the classic flexible defensive spell, scaling with level and making fights with energy damage far, far safer. You’d probably be taking it anyway, so a good get!
(6) Vermin Shape I: I really can’t get excited about it. There are other, better scouting abilities in your arsenal, and Chaos knows it’s not that great as a combat form. Let me know if I’m missing something obvious here.
(8) Confusion: Sure, confusion is [mind-affecting], but any enemy that fails its Will save is essentially hit with the 50% chance of inaction version of bestow curse. And it’s possibly even better, because enemies can hurt themselves and their allies! With a 15-ft. radius and medium range, you really should be thinking about using it as an opening nuke, then letting enemies go ham on each other.
(10) Lesser Planar Binding: Gahhh. So hard to render a judgment on these. I tend to be a slow-and-steady player, not inclined to take excessive risks, and the planar binding suite is all about risk: you call a powerful Outsider, attempt to compel them or entice them to perform a service for you, and then hope that you can banish them if they ever come back to cause trouble. You might experience less trouble if you summon Good Outsiders with the prospect of destroying evil, but even that can have consequences. Use at your own risk, knowing that the summon monster suite can always be used for shorter-term, disposable allies.
(12) Planar Binding: As above, but more powerful.
(14) Insanity: Absolutely crippling if you can land it on an enemy. Even if they have the means to break the insanity, there’s only a 1 in 4 chance of their being able to use it in any given round.
(16) Greater Planar Binding: As above, but maxxximum power.
(18) Imprisonment: Imprisonment is, as it turns out, one of the best spells in the game for destroying world-ending threats. For starters, the only spell capable of ending imprisonment is the Wizard/Sorcerer-only freedom, and it has to be cast in the exact spot that they were imprisoned. Hell, the only way to even find the target is to cast a specific 8th-level spell or a 9th-level spell acting as that specific 8th-level spell! If you can find a way to cast it inside a demiplane that then ceases to exist, it’s game over, permanently. And you even get to impose a Will save penalty for knowing some facts about your target, which should be laughably easy for end-game bosses! Truly amazing.
Revelations
(1) Balefire: Balefire gets decent at 10th level, but only good at 15th. That’s way too late of an entry for my taste, but if you do make it to 15th level, sure, spend your Revelation on it.
(1) Demonhide: The usual armor Revelation, and as good as all the others. The DR is easily penetrated by a +3 weapon, which most weapon-wielding enemies will have by 13th level, but it’s still good against natural weapons and the like.
(1) Planar Haze: Obscuring mist has never not been useful, and doubly so with the phenomenal ashen path spell on your list. Silence is probably the greatest early candidate for Planar Haze, working as the equivalent of a flashbang. Blinded, deafened, and mute ain’t a bad package.
(1) Planar Infusion: Even without the overly restrictive alignment mechanic, a -2 penalty on these checks won’t do squat.
(1) Rift Magic: Spell resistance won’t become a thing until later levels, but when it does, Outsiders are some of the worst offenders. Casting-focused builds will likely be taking the Spell Penetration feat anyway, and the two stack. Combat-focused builds won’t need the Revelation.
(1) Rift Weapon: Cold iron is good against Demons, Devils, Fey...if you’ve ever fought those enemies, you know how troublesome they can be. I wish this ability affected more weapons, but cold iron isn’t too hard to purchase. Good, but potentially superfluous depending on your team’s shopping choices.
(1) Unearthly Terrain: Nice long duration, universally useful effect, and plenty of daily uses. I like what I see.
(7) Wings of Terror: Yeah, you can fly, too. The hefty, untyped bonuses to Intimidate make late-game Intimidate builds quite feasible for Outer Rifts Oracles. With Bludgeoner, Enforcer, and Flyby Attack, you can swoop around bonking people on the head and scaring them pantsless.
(9) Dread Resilience: I think it’s a little shitty that Dread Resilience makes you wait until 9th level, then only gives you an increase every four levels, instead of every three, like Mental Acuity from the Lore Mystery. You’ll wind up with only a +3 increase to CON by the end of your career. It’s still excellent enough to take, certainly, but a little less on the Wow Factor than Lore.
(11) Telepathy: Oof, that’s a good power. At-will telepathy is ideal for coordinating surprise attacks, communicating with speech-less creatures, and much, much more.
Role
The Reaper Mystery was released as part of Paizo’s final AP before launching 2e, Tyrant’s Grasp. The Whispering Tyrant being a lich and all, the AP presumably revolves around fighting Undead, but even with that in mind...you guys, the Mystery is just bad. There’s no other way to frame it. It’s just bad. Like, really bad. It tries to do some debuffing, but can’t quite make up its mind about whether you should be fighting the living or the undead. Take the Death’s Embrace Revelation, for instance: it’s already bad enough when fighting living targets, but what if you’re fighting Undead? Your negative energy damage just became useless! Are you going to freaking heal the skeleton you’re grappling? I can’t even give this Mystery a combat role, it’s so bad. Move on.
Anticaster, Melee, Debuffing > Blasting, Control, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning, Support, Tank, Utility
Bonus Skills
It’s quite the strong skill list, actually, but without any support from Revelations or spells and a horrendous chassis on the rest of it, why would you bother?
Bonus Spells
(2) Chill Touch: Relatively useless beyond early levels against living targets, chill touch nevertheless retains some utility as an anti-Undead tool, although the low save DC will always be a hindrance. Getting multiple touch attacks is, well, a nice touch.
(4) Calm Spirit: Of dubious use against even the intended targets, which won’t be available all the time.
(6) Sands of Time: It’s a minor debuff against living targets, but gets a slight bump for allowing no save. Can also be used as a pseudo-Sunder on objects or attack against Undead and Constructs. It’s not too bad?
(8) Purge Spirit: Not necessarily bad, only hugely restricted to incorporeal creatures. It does deny casters a pretty powerful tool, though, and deserves some kudos for that.
(10) Slay Living: As a reminder, this is a 5th-level spell that will probably deal around 20 points of damage and can’t affect Constructs, Undead, and other non-living enemies. Such a cool name for such a disappointing effect.
(12) Undeath to Death: Costly component, Fortitude negates, useful only against Undead, and will affect only a few creatures. Another highly specific spell.
(14) Destruction: Destruction does only slightly better than harm, but as a 7th-level spell instead of a 6th-level spell. It’s better than many of the stinkers on this list, but only just.
(16) Horrid Wilting: Fortitude half at this level means that it’ll be half damage almost always. Once again, only living creatures, but the long range and huge area at least help it up.
(18) Wail of the Banshee: If they’re not immune to death effects, it’ll be sonic damage, or SR, or a Fortitude save that’s through the roof. You should expect more from 9th-level spells.
Revelations
(1) Death’s Embrace: Even full-BAB classes have a hard time keeping combat maneuver builds relevant into the high levels, and you’re a ¾ BAB class who probably had to make STR and DEX second or third priorities. It’s just a bad Revelation.
(1) Moral Crisis: Living creature, [mind-affecting], [emotion], new save each turn...yech. Even if you could use Moral Crisis every turn—there’s no mention of uses per day—you still wouldn’t want to.
(1) Return to Dust: Incredibly weak damage, and a save for half on top of that. Nope nope nope.
(1) Spectral Spells: Of zero use unless you’re fighting incorporeal enemies. Experiences a minor uptick in usefulness in the later levels, when casters will often try to go incorporeal or ethereal.
(1) Spirit Touch: Honestly, Spirit Touch is the only real Revelation you’d need to be decent at fighting incorporeals, and yet they stacked a shit-ton of other redundant Revelations on top of it for God knows what reason. Is my rage at this Mystery boiling over a little? I feel like it’s boiling over a little.
(1) True Death: Battles against necromancers and cultists can quickly turn dicey if the people you kill keep returning as Undead, and there’s not usually a great way around it, short of building a huge pyre to burn every body. True Death is modestly useful in campaigns that feature a lot of Undead, but of marginal use elsewhere.
(5) Haunt Channeler: In Paizo APs, at least, you only run into haunts maybe...once a book? At most? Hell, haunts didn’t even exist before Horror Adventures, so that’s a good half the APs gone right out of the box. Way too specific, and weak even when it’s in its element.
(5) Pale Horse: Phantom steed is a generally good spell, neither outrageously excellent nor outrageously bad. Mobility won’t pick up until the very last levels.
(11) Obliterate Memory: Modify memory is quite the nifty Bard-only spell that lets you go full Inception on people. This Revelation, on the other hand, can only be used once or twice a day and can only erase memories. Where’s the utility?
(11) Terminal Aura: Of all the Revelations in Reaper, this is the most baffling. How can you possibly think that gaining an aura of a cantrip belongs at 11th level? Why would you ever need this? Most GMs won’t even play out what comes after an enemy falls unconscious, because it’s assumed that the players walk around coup de gracing things afterward.
Role
So, yes, I wrote the Revolution Mystery. Made for cynical, jingoistic demagogues and valiant freedom fighters alike, the Revolution Mystery was my attempt to simultaneously capture the spirit of both the inspiring qualities of the American Revolution and the horrifying qualities of the French Reign of Terror from 1792 onward. I wanted to create a Mystery that parlayed an extreme talent for Face skills into combat effectiveness; it was this design precept that led to abilities like Denounce Conspirator. There are plenty of abilities for rounding up your own team, from recruiting with Vox Populi to arming your peasant horde with Arm the Mob to protecting them with Shacklebreaker. The spell list deliberately contains a lot of Enchantment magic, [language-dependent] effects, and [sonic] debuffs or blasts—after all, what’s the point of becoming a world-class orator if you can’t actually hurt people with your words? Lastly, I wanted to give the Revolution Mystery a little bit of defensive staying power, as it’s definitely an element missing in Streets or Intrigue. The idea of your revolutionary disciples loving you so much that they’re willing to literally shield you from fireballs and greatsword hits was too appealing to pass up!
Skills, Support > Control, Debuffing, Utility > Blasting, Summoning, Tank > Anticaster, Melee, Ranged, Recon
Bonus Skills
Bluff, Intimidate, and Knowledge (Local) are all crucial for understanding and influencing humanoids, so it’s a good thing that you get those. Perform (Comedy / Oratory) is highly relevant for its tie-ins to the Barn Burner Revelation.
Bonus Spells
(2) Timely Inspiration: Perfect for those moments when your party’s Fighter winds up for an enormous hit, only to miss by one. You won’t deal much damage, so why not help those who will?
(4) Blistering Invective: One of my very favorite Inquisitor spells, blistering invective lets you burn people so hard they literally catch fire. How’s that for flavor? With your bonuses to Intimidate, sticking the landing on the demoralize check should be a cakewalk. The [language-dependent] tag won’t allow you to use it against all targets, but it’s great for humanoids.
(6) Demanding Message: Sort of like a latent suggestion that you can trigger at a later time, and much safer to use against intelligent targets because of it.
(8) Freedom of Movement: Bind me? No, sir! Freedom of movement is a must for casters because of the danger that grapples, swallow whole, and effects like paralysis pose to you.
(10) Litany of Thunder: Fortitude negates, more’s the pity, but a swift action cast is novel, and a chance for both deafened and confused is worth gambling on.
(12) Mass Demanding Message: And now you can get a bunch of targets to do your bidding.
(14) Resonating Word: Squishy casters can get absolutely wrecked by resonating word, taking extensive damage and quickly getting forced into immobility by the stunned condition. It makes for a good alpha strike against targets that you suspect will have poor Fortitude saves.
(16) Brilliant Inspiration: A top-notch buff for ¾ BAB allies who deal a lot of damage (think Magi, Rogues, Warpriests, Inquisitors, Hunters, etc.) but might have trouble hitting.
(18) Heroic Invocation: The Morale bonus is unfortunately quite common at this level; immunity to fear and charm effects never gets old, however. I’d suggest burning this spell slot late in the adventuring day when you know you’re going to be resting soon but want to muscle through a few more encounters anyway.
Revelations
(1) Arm the Mob: You can use this Revelation to arm a mob (perhaps a small mob) but another use is simply to help your team overcome unusual DR. Also nice on the off-chance you ever get your weapons stripped from you and need to suit up in a hurry. Not a top priority Revelation, but okay.
(1) Martyr for the Cause: Yep, CHA-to-AC powers are always excellent. Get it and let the peons take the cones of cold for you!
(1) Denounce Conspirator: You’ve got to hit a Bluff or Intimidate DC of 30 + CR to turn a BBEG’s minions against him so completely that they attack, so it’s relatively balanced right off the bat. It’s best for peeling away combatants from a fight that they would otherwise take part in.
(1) Shacklebreaker: Multiple teammates grappled, bound, or swallowed? Hit ‘em with liberating command and watch that situation turn around.
(1) Renown: You’d have to invest heavily in the Renown Social Talent tree to continue sucking marrow from the ability, but if you do, you’ll see discounts on purchases, large bonuses to Intimidate, and other fun goodies as your reputation for anarchy precedes you.
(1) Rhetorician: More bonuses for your face skills. If you’re not able to talk yourself out of just about anything with the Revolution Mystery, you’re doing it wrong.
(3) Barn Burner: Oooh, now here’s a good one. Versatile Performances are one of the best features of the Bard class, and even a limited version of that feature is still excellent.
(7) Vox Populi: Vox Populi removes the main condition that GMs hate, which is tracking a powerful cohort with class levels. What you’re left with are disposable mooks, grunts who can man the barricades while you and your party take care of business. It’s still very good, but being limited to recruiting Followers dampens it within reason.
(7) Foe to Friend: Yeah, good stuff. Charm person and dominate person are both excellent spells when you’re dealing primarily with humanoids.
(11) Vituperative Tirade: A decent area debuffing Revelation, especially if you pick up the Improved and Greater Dirge of Doom feats. Not a bad “capstone” Revelation.
Role
I’m going to go on record as saying that I believe the Shadow Mystery is the most powerful of all the Paizo-official Mysteries. There are simply no weak links anywhere. The spell list all checks out, with only one spell ranked below yellow. The Revelation list is even stronger. How do you even start to define what these guys are capable of? Army of Darkness and the various shadow conjuration spells from Dark Secrets make them quite capable summoners; spells that mess with illumination levels like blacklight and deeper darkness give them excellent battlefield control; they’re incredibly hard to pin down, with high Stealth scores, invisibility, flight, teleportation, and shadow walking; they can scout, infiltrate, and assassinate using Shadow Projection, Living Shadow, and the ability to see in even magical darkness; they can debuff with searching shadows, mydriatic spontaneity, and baleful shadow transmutation; they can even hold their own in combat with shadow claws or shadow dragon aspect. The versatility provided by Dark Secrets is, simply put, unparalleled: Shadow Oracles are as hard to pin down in their role as they are in-game, and are the true Universalists of the class.
Control, Debuffing, Recon, Summoning, Utility > Anticaster, Blasting, Melee > Ranged, Skills, Support, Tank
Bonus Skills
Stealth is a perfect thematic and mechanical fit for Shadow, which dedicates several Revelations (Cloak of Darkness and Stealth Mastery) to boosting the skill to unthinkable heights. Disguise and Knowledge (Dungeoneering) are pretty skippable, although Disguise does get a shout-out for being able to improve your simulacrum’s stats once you pick up that ability from Dark Secrets. Bluff is ever the good face skill if you get caught in the shadows or want to Feint for some reason.
Bonus Spells
(2) Blurred Movement: A decent enough power for casters who envision themselves getting trapped by melee enemies from time to time. Still pretty underpowered.
(4) Invisibility: Has there ever been a time in the history of the world when invisibility wasn’t excellent?
(6) Deeper Darkness: Soft battlefield control that’s effective at many levels. A good, solid spell.
(8) Shadow Step: Teleportation, much like invisibility, is always a win.
(10) Vampiric Shadow Shield: It’s not strictly bad: I mean, if you’re gonna get hit, why not heal a little? The issue is that so many things bypass it, and y’all, this is a 5th-level spell. That’s a serious resource you’re burning for a pretty minor effect.
(12) Shadow Walk: Perfect for long-distance travel, or for dropping enemies off in a different dimension. Probably better for the former, though.
(14) Mass Invisibility: Hmmm, I think I’d rather have gotten greater invisibility, rather than mass. Still good!
(16) Greater Shadow Evocation: I gotta say, I’m a sucker for the Shadow subschool. So much cool stuff you can do, and so flexibly!
(18) Shades: At this level, shades is every Conjuration spell on the Wizard/Sorcerer spell list. Every. One. That’s maze, maddening oubliette, summon monster VIII, wall of lava—crazy, crazy stuff. Shades is awesome. The Shadow Mystery is awesome.
Revelations
(1) Army of Darkness: It’s the worst-kept secret in Pathfinder that summoning monsters is one of the very best things you can do with your action economy—so good, in fact, that there are entire summoning builds to capitalize on the strength of the base playstyle. Army of Darkness gives you access to the Shadow template, which doesn’t do a whole lot for you that Fiendish or Celestial wouldn’t also do. The main difference is the addition of a 20% miss chance and the subtraction of Smite, which makes Shadow more defensively oriented than Fiendish or Celestial. It’s a good template to slap on lower level summons that you’re using as meat shields; they might tank a few more hits before going back to the ether.
As far as the second benefit goes, that’s much, much better. Spell Focus (Conjuration) is a bit of a trap option, as many Conjuration spells (walls, healing, summons, etc.) don’t allow for a save, or if they do, it’s Reflex, monsters’ weakest as they increase in level. Being able to skip that in order to get later, better summoning feats right off the bat is 100% what you want.
(1) Cloak of Darkness: Identical to other armor Revelations with the exception of the Stealth bonus, which, as a circumstance bonus, stacks with everything else, even other circumstance bonuses. The Stealth Mastery Revelation can bring your Stealth score up to even more insane levels.
(1) Dark Secrets: Um. Holy shit, what? Dark Secrets gives you access to some 50+ spells, mostly non-duplicates from the Wizard/Sorcerer list, that get added not just to your spell list but to your spells known. All viable candidates are listed below, based on a spell search of Archives of Nethys on 4/3/19; non-bolded spells are ones that you already have access to as an Oracle, while bolded spells are ones that you don’t naturally have access to. More than just giving you a bunch more spells known, Dark Secrets also grants access to really good spells. Notice how many spells on the Oracle list below are red or yellow, whereas the spells on the Wizard/Sorcerer list are mostly green or blue? That’s because these aren’t just any spells: these are illumination and battlefield control spells, kick-ass buffs like shadow dragon aspect, kick-ass debuffs like baleful shadow transmutation, the kick-ass everything spell simulacrum, and the shadow conjuration / enchantment / evocation / transmutation lines, which let you emulate any other spell effect of the school with a chance at lesser effectiveness. Coupled with the Shadow Mastery Revelation (which is basically required if you’re going Dark Secrets) you can spontaneously cast just about any spell on the Wizard/Sorcerer list with minimal chances of disbelief. I’m making up a new color, purple, that is better than blue. And Dark Secrets is the only option in the Paizo-official Mysteries that qualifies. The best Revelation in the game.
1st-Level Spells: Dancing darkness, shadow trap, shadow weapon, shadowfade, touch of blindness
2nd-Level Spells: Darkness, dark whispers, display aversion, dust of twilight, flickering lights, haunting mists, protective penumbra, searching shadows, shadow anchor, shadow claws, twilight haze, umbral weapon
3rd-Level Spells: Blacklight, motes of dusk and dawn, shadow enchantment, shifting shadows, spotlight, twine double, wall of split illumination
4th-Level Spells: Lesser simulacrum, minor phantom object, mydriatic spontaneity, shadow barbs, shadow conjuration, shadow dragon aspect, shadowform, shadow jaunt, shadow step
5th-Level Spells: Charnel house, cloak of shadows, major phantom object, shadow evocation, shroud of darkness, symbol of striking
6th-Level Spells: Baleful shadow transmutation, greater shadow enchantment, shadow endurance, shadow transmutation, shadow walk
7th-Level Spells: Greater shadow conjuration, hungry darkness, lunar veil, mass mydriatic spontaneity, project image, simulacrum, umbral strike
8th-Level Spells: Curse of night, greater shadow evocation
9th-Level Spells: Curse of fell seasons, greater shadow transmutation, shades
(1) Pierce the Shadows: Humans, Halflings, and other races without innate darkvision will be happy enough to get that benefit, but the true power kicks in at 11th level, when Pierce the Shadows functions as See In Darkness. Being able to see right through your own darkness spells and those created by Outsiders and other casters kicks it right up to 11.
(1) Shadow Armament: This Revelation is functionally identical to shadow weapon, a spell you can pick up through the Dark Secrets Revelation. It’s okay, but Shadow Oracles will more likely be focused on casting, not combat.
(1) Stealth Mastery: Certainly nice to have, but easily skippable if you’ve got other priorities. The Signature Skill unlock unfortunately doesn’t do a lot for you unless you’ve got Rogue levels. Still, more Stealth is never a bad thing.
(7) Living Shadow: Living Shadow is extremely easy to recommend as a 15th-level pick, and extremely difficult to recommend as a 7th-level pick. At 7th level, it’s neither a good panic button nor a good scouting ability—at least not compared with Shadow Projection. At 14th level, however, the mediocre gaseous form gets transfigured into a beefed-up version of shadow body, which is a top-shelf self-buff for casters who want defense but don’t care particularly badly about attacking. If you’re primarily debuffing, controlling the battlefield, or letting summons do your work for you, Living Shadow is nothing but upside.
(7) Shadow Mastery: Just a little refresher on the “percent real” clauses involved in shadow evocation, shadow conjuration, and the like: all these spells are Illusion spells, and as such give opponents a Will save to disbelieve them. If they fail their Will saves, the spells act as if they truly were the spells enemies think they are; if they pass their Will saves, the spells deal vastly reduced damage, have only a slim chance of applying conditions, etc. Increases in percent reality will only help you with this second aspect, increasing the effectiveness of your Illusion spells even after enemies have identified them as illusions. With higher-level spells like shades or the greater shadow [school] lines, Shadow Mastery can increasingly blur the line between delusion and reality, allowing spells to have their full effects (or close to it) on successful disbelief saves.
(7) Shadow Projection: Enemy Shadows are bitches to fight. They’re incorporeal, have Undead immunities, and deal 1d6 STR damage on a touch attack that ignores armor. Well, now you get to become one, and without any of the alignment restrictions of shadow projection! Because you can use this Revelation in single-hour increments without recasting any spells, you can infiltrate strongholds, find casters, kill them with STR damage from stealth, then set about killing the martials. If you’re ever dropped below 0 HP and your physical body takes damage, that’s okay! Have the team heal you up and send your Shadow out again. There are no negative levels or associated penalties for using the Shadow repeatedly, so why not? Do be on the lookout for dismissal and similar effects—remember, your Shadow is an Outsider, not an Undead creature, and is subject to the same planar restrictions...but enemy casters won’t necessarily know that, even with a successful Knowledge (Religion) check.
(7) Wings of Darkness: And flight, to boot. I tell you this: there is very, very little that a well-prepared Shadow Oracle can’t accomplish.
Role
Any Mystery would have a hard time following Shadow, but Solar actually does a decent job. It’s a bit of an odd duck, neither fish nor fowl, fulfilling a Jack of All Trades role by moving the team around, negating enemy darkness and stealth tactics, and leveraging some blast spells for modest damage output and positioning. Combining Luminous Form, Serpent in the Sun, the various feats from Starlight Agility, and teleportation effects from dimension door and Sun Stride, Solar Oracles are actually quite difficult to land a solid hit on, and might be able to act as pseudo-tanks by leading enemies on a merry chase over the hills and far away. All in all, the Mystery is a bit more reliant on access to natural light than I’d like—dungeon crawls and caverns are staples of TTRPG campaigns, after all—but really starts to shine (pun very much intended) in wilderness and desert campaigns. APs like Legacy of Fire, Kingmaker, and Ironfang Invasion (well, the early portions of Ironfang) will play to Solar’s strengths while minimizing its weaknesses.
Anticaster, Recon, Utility > Blasting, Melee, Skills, Support, Tank > Control, Debuffing, Ranged, Summoning
Bonus Skills
Hmmm. Not the most inspiring skill list. Fly is probably your best bet here, especially coupled with the Many Roads Revelation, but it’s strange to me that the Mystery doesn’t get an in-class method of flight. What gives, Solar? Survival, Knowledge (Geography), and Linguistics are all of dubious usefulness.
Bonus Spells
(2) Faerie Fire: With no save and the ability to shut down the normally highly troublesome invisibility and other common caster tactics, faerie fire is an excellent spell for any Oracle that will do good work from 1 to 20.
(4) Flaming Sphere: The sphere does require continued action input from you, which forces you to decide between moving, casting, and attacking on the turns when you want the sphere to do something. It’s always, always useful against swarms, though, and that’s not nothing.
(6) Daylight: What happens when a Solar Oracle meets a Shadow Oracle? Nothing, I guess. The spells cancel out. Daylight works quite well for shutting down casters, Devils, Demons, etc. who like to blind you before coming in for the kill.
(8) Dimension Door: Excellent for infiltration, escaping grapples or swallows, and general utility. Yeah, definitely a great get.
(10) Planar Adaptation: Planar adventuring becomes increasingly common as you go up in level, with whole books in certain APs taking place on different planes. It does nothing on the Material Plane, however, which is where you’ll spend most of your time.
(12) Scirocco: Scirocco is a really cool spell that unfortunately targets many enemies’ greatest strengths: at higher levels, Fortitude is the strongest monster save, fire is the most commonly resisted energy type, and certain creature types (Oozes, Undead, Elementals, and Constructs, e.g.) have blanket immunity to fatigue or exhaustion. It’s not bad, per se—you just won’t often get all the effects advertised.
(14) Sunbeam: In contrast to scirocco, which targets the strong Fortitude save, sunbeam targets the weak Reflex save for permanent blindness. Blind enemies very quickly turn into dead enemies, and there’s even some good damage tacked on for Undead and Oozes.
(16) Sunburst: As sunbeam, except now you can target literally every enemy on the battlefield, ending encounters before they even begin. Talk about a flashbang.
(18) Prismatic Sphere: The ultimate in self-protection technology, you won’t be vulnerable to much at all when you’ve got your sphere up and running. The sphere is immobile, however, so don’t be surprised if enemy casters try to put it into a position where you’ll have to leave in order to be effective (using create pit to drop the sphere into a hole, e.g., forcing you to choose between invulnerability and further casting; throwing up a wall between you and the action, etc.).
Revelations
(1) Astral Caravan: This is a 6th-level spell that you get to access at 1st level, if you want! That’s pretty cool. By the time you get to about 4th or 5th level, you’ll be able to pull the entire team along with you, gaining a huge boost to travel speed with minimal danger. Probably your 1st- or 3rd-level Revelation pick, along with Starlight Agility.
(1) Blistered Caress: The damage is already piss-poor, but then you get few limited uses per day on top of that. Hard to recommend, especially with the paucity of Plant-type enemies in most games.
(1) Luminous Form: I’m a bit torn on Luminous Form. On the one hand, blazing as gloriously as the sun paints a huge target on your back for every caster and ranged combatant that wants to take you down; on the other, melee fighters who want to close with you (those with 5-ft. reach, at least) are going to risk blindness if they come for you. You can take it at 1st level, but I’d probably wait until 5th (if you’re Dual-Cursed) or 7th.
(1) Many Roads: Hmmm. Fly’s good, albeit confusing with no in-class way to fly. Survival is mostly fluff except in wilderness campaigns, and languages are also mostly fluff with tongues on the class list. It’s cool, but definitely skippable.
(1) Serpent in the Sun: It’s ironic that many of the creatures that will give you diseases and poison you live underground, where it’s harder to hit the required 4 hours of sunbathing that you need to gain immunity to disease and poisons. Once you get access to demiplanes, of course, the point is moot: make your demiplane full of natural sunlight, then plane shift there whenever you want. Before that, you might have to use dimension door to pop back to the surface once in a while.
(1) Solar Wind: Definitely more useful for the Bull Rush effect than for the fire damage—blast enemies into pits, off cliffs, onto the ground from flight, you name it.
(1) Starlight Agility: Dodge has never been a bad feat, merely one that most builds don’t have room for. Wind Stance helps keep you mobile and hard to hit while Luminous Form is down, and Lightning Stance makes AoOs or strategic retreats far less life-threatening than they were previously. Fairly good! I always like Revelations that grant free feats.
(1) Torch Touch: I can’t really think what the use would be. It’s a minor QoL improvement, I guess.
(5) Sun Stride: Much like Serpent in the Sun, you’re a bit hampered by your access to natural sunlight. You can always create your own natural sunlight by casting daylight on your weapon, but then what? If there’s no destination sunlight, you’re stuck. Much more useful if you intend to spend most of your time outside.
(5) Sungazer: “Anything the light touches…” All of these spells are good Divination spells, but ask your GM whether you can truly use clairaudience/clairvoyance anywhere sunlight touches, or whether the normal range restrictions apply. Too bad greater scrying gets its duration knocked down to minutes per level.
Role
Whereas the Lunar and Dragon Mysteries seem to be designed for martial Oracles who want to hunt down and kill casters, the Spellscar Mystery piles all of its potential into creating a caster who hunts down and kills other casters. You’ve got staple Anticaster spells like dispel magic, antimagic field, and mage’s disjunction on the spell list, as well as a bevy of anticaster Revelations that grant energy resistance, spell resistance, and improved saves vs. spells, SLAs, and (Su) abilities. There are very few offensive powers included in the Mystery (Eldritch Bolt excepted) which seems a strange oversight until you remember that primal magic events, the other focus of the Mystery, kind of are offensive powers—at least, they can be if shaped correctly.
Primal magic is a strange beast. Lore-wise, the Mana Wastes between Geb and Nex are the largest region of primal magic on Golarion, and certain planes or demiplanes have primal magic traits that make traditional casting dangerously unpredictable. I see primal magic as an extension of a precept that comes to us from the domain of Game Theory: namely, that players who are winning a game should use consistent, safe, proven strategies, whereas players who are losing a game should use erratic, dangerous, or untested strategies. If you’re ahead, you don’t want to blow your lead by taking a stupid risk; if you’re behind, you might lose regardless of what you do, so why not gamble on the slim chances? Primal magic is the epitome of erratic, dangerous, and untested, so it’s best used when all hope seems to be lost. Consider the d% roll of 39 - 44: all creatures in a wide area are affected by harm. Harm is bad news, dealing 150 damage on a failed save and half that even on a successful save. If the Wizard has partitioned the battlefield, the Rogue is flanking and getting SAs off, and the Fighter is mowing down the competition, there is very little tactical benefit to suddenly dealing 150 damage to friend and foe alike. If half the team is dead and more enemies are coming down the hall, however, 150 damage to every living creature starts to look mighty appealing. Fortunately, Spellscar gives you plenty of chances to think this dilemma over: Eldritch Scar and Trigger Primal Event are both things that you can control—at least, you can control when they happen, and ostensibly where—so there shouldn’t be any random chances with primal magic. Play it smart.
Anticaster > Blasting, Debuffing, Tank > Summoning, Utility > Control, Melee, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Support
Bonus Skills
The inclusion of Use Magic Device on a CHA-based casting class all but ensures that you’ll be sneaking spells from other class lists, which is a superb benefit. Knowledge (Arcana) and Knowledge (Nature) do just fine as monster identification spells. Survival is included to help you navigate the Mana Wastes, I suppose? I haven’t looked at the flavor text in the Mystery’s source book yet.
Bonus Spells
(2) Ray of Enfeeblement: Don’t use your ray on martials, however much you might want to. Use it on squishy casters with bad Fortitude saves and watch them buckle under the weight of their own equipment. Good in early levels, but loses quite a bit of functionality later as Fortitude saves go through the roof.
(4) Obscure Object: I guess if you’re trying to hide some artifact from a BBEG? Not of much use as a spell known—this is something the party Wizard should prepare if the team finds itself in need.
(6) Dispel Magic: Flexible and powerful. You already know dispel magic is great, though.
(8) Lesser Globe of Invulnerability: A spellcasting fortress is a powerful tool for caster vs. caster fights, but remember that one determined martial enemy can still cut you down in a jiffy. At the very least, it might cause your opponent to waste valuable rounds trying to dispel your globe.
(10) Break Enchantment: The souped-up dispel magic that cures curses, spellblights, etc. You’d likely be taking it anyway, it’s that good.
(12) Antimagic Field: More combat-oriented Mysteries like the Dragon Mystery can take better advantage of antimagic field, but assuming you’ve got even a little combat prowess, you can, too. Simply keep a masterwork melee weapon on you, close with the caster in question, and beat ‘em up. ¾ BAB and a d8 hit die aren’t looking too shabby now, are they, Mr. Wizard?
(14) Spell Turning: It doesn’t stop too many spells, but those that it does will be a nasty surprise to the enemy caster. Try to establish before going in that your opponent doesn’t also have spell turning up—you’d hate to be sucked into the Abyss or Abaddon or the Negative Energy Plane.
(16) Spellscar: Hey, it’s your namesake! Assuming full casters at this level will have casting stat modifiers in the +9 to +11 range (+4 initial, +3 from a headband, +2 from attribute increases, and add in a few more from miscellaneous buffs or inherent bonuses) they’ll only stand a chance of triggering a primal magic event on their very highest spell levels, and then only rarely. The real issue with spellscar is that it affects a cubic area, such that any caster who wants to escape the effect can just fly to a different unaffected area and cast as normal. There might be fewer options in confined spaces, but a caster might then decide that they want out of there and disapparate dimension door away. Remember: casters are smart, and smart people don’t stick around to fight when the odds are clearly stacked against them.
(18) Mage’s Disjunction: The Wizard’s answer to parties that are pre-buffed to the gills. Mage’s disjunction is considerably more dangerous for PCs to use, as they stand a decent chance of destroying or nullifying their party’s equipment. Desperate times may call for desperate measures, however, so burn it if you really feel the magical tide starting to turn against you.
Revelations
(1) Eldritch Bolt: No save, plenty of uses per day, and DR-piercing force damage all equal a green in my book. Excellent for taking down incorporeals and other hard-to-damage enemies.
(1) Eldritch Resistance: The sheer coverage here is what brings Eldritch Resistance to a blue. Spells like resist energy still leave you vulnerable to spells that deal more than one type of energy damage, or in battles where casters can afford to switch up their blasting repertoire. This Revelation might not cover energy damage as strongly as resist energy, but it does give you more versatility.
(1) Magic Penetration: Higher CL for the purposes of dispel magic and break enchantment means you can counterspell and strip buffs from more powerful enemies at a higher rate of success than you could otherwise. That’s great offensively. And it even applies to remove curse, neutralize poison, etc., so you get some nice team benefits, as well.
(1) Mystic Null: Mystic Null’s bonus applies to any save prompted by a spell, SLA, or (Su) ability, which is just about any of the worst effects enemies can throw at you. You’re getting this.
(1) Primal Mastery: The text says “Whenever a spell you cast triggers a primal magic event,” so ask your GM whether Eldritch Scar counts for the purposes of Primal Mastery. RAW, I think it probably shouldn’t count. If that’s the case, the utility of the Revelation all depends on how Primal Magic works in your game: does it tend to trigger once per combat? Once per day? Once per AP book? Maybe bumps up to green if you’re a big rod of wonder junkie.
(3) Animate Primal Forces: Summons are always good, but you get to use this power only once per day until 10th level, and it persists for a shorter amount of time (generally speaking) than normal summons. These negatives are buoyed by the standard action casting time, as compared with the full round of summon monster. We’ll put it at a solid green.
(7) Eldritch Scar: Primal magic events are the core of the Spellscar Mystery, so it’s no surprise to see them make an appearance. By their very nature, however, primal magic events are unpredictable, as likely to harm you as they are to harm your enemies. In fact, as you increase in level, primal magic is more likely to harm you, because the radius of effects gets larger! See my discussion of Game Theory in the Role section above to know whether you’d like to monkey about with Eldritch Scar.
(7) Primal Manipulation: This power would be fantastic for Sorcerers and other dedicated blasting classes, but the Oracle list isn’t exactly tailored for offensive spellcasting, and the Spellscar list doesn’t include any spells that deal energy damage. It’s fine, albeit eminently skippable.
(9) Trigger Primal Event: Whether the event starts 30 ft. away or is centered on you, you’ll feel the effects of a primal magic event. As with Eldritch Scar, there’s some Game Theory to consider with primal magic, so look at the Role section for more details.
(11) Spell Resistance: The amount of SR that this Revelation confers is so small that I don’t think full casters even could fail to penetrate it at this level. ¾ Casters like Bards or Inquisitors might have a bit more trouble, depending on their builds, and ½ Casters like Rangers or Bloodragers could maybe be counted on to fail the check about half the time. For my money, I’d pick up spell resistance as a 5th-level spell and go with 12 + CL, rather than 5 + CL. SR is SR, though, and constant is no joke. What else are you going to spend a Revelation on at this level?
Role
The Stone Mystery was one that I had a very unfavorable perception of going in, based on previous cursory glances at the spell and Revelation lists. On closer examination, it does better than I expected, but its powers encourage a very specific role as a Ranged/Control specialist. The classic move is to use Earth Glide and Crystal Sight to scout out the opposition, open with wall of stone, stone call, or other control spells to partition the battlefield or put enemies at a tactical disadvantage, then move closer to the fray and start blasting away with Rock Throwing or Mighty Pebble. Stone Stability, Steelbreaker Skin, stoneskin, and statue allow you to stand in melee range without fearing immediate death; if a threat breaks through your defensive cordon, you can Shard Explosion as a swift action, then disappear into an Earth Glide as a free action, moving away and popping up elsewhere with a standard action left for a boulder to the face. It’s not the most subtle playstyle, but hey, sometimes you just need to thrash.
Ranged > Blasting, Control, Recon, Tank > Anticaster, Debuffing, Melee, Skills, Summoning, Support, Utility
Bonus Skills
There’s no synergy in the Mystery for Intimidate, but it remains a decent face skill. Survival helps with general wilderness life, but Climb and Appraise remain pretty bad, as always.
Bonus Spells
(2) Magic Stone: No better than a bow or crossbow, and uses up your precious spell slots. Pass.
(4) Stone Call: The key here is the difficult terrain, not the damage. Use this in a surprise round to make charges and other offensive maneuvers all but impossible for enemies, then use the time you gained to buff, debuff, and further control the battlefield.
(6) Meld into Stone: Useful in rare instances for hiding or eavesdropping. Niche, at any rate.
(8) Wall of Stone: Stone Oracles get it two levels before other Oracles, which I’m fine with. Darn good battlefield control power that helps you focus on some enemies while ignoring others.
(10) Stoneskin: If you can afford the material component, stoneskin is magical, and really helps you stand in the thick of battle without worrying too much about dying from HP damage. More of a “once in a while” thing than an everyday thing, though.
(12) Stone Tell: The effectiveness of stone tell will vary depending on how your GM interprets what stone is able to perceive and how willing they are to divulge classified campaign information. Could be good, could be worthless.
(14) Statue: Essentially gives you DR 8/— against everything except AoOs for hours per level. That’s an excellent deal, and should stack just fine with stoneskin.
(16) Repel Metal or Stone: Powerful, but limited by its area of effect and the types of targets available. If you’re in a campaign that features humanoids or Outsiders prominently, go for it; it might not be worth it otherwise.
(18) Clashing Rocks: The rare blast spell that gets it right. Reflex saves are typically weak at high levels, SR does not apply, and you can catch a bunch of enemies in the path of the spell. A cave-in can also ruin casters, who may not be able to provide verbal, somatic, or material components for their spells.
Revelations
(1) Acid Skin: Acid damage isn’t too common, but against Oozes, some kinds of Dragons, Elementals, Linnorms, etc., you’ll be happy to have it. It’s not as versatile as resist energy, which is the only reason it gets dinged.
(1) Clobbering Strike: Very few Oracle spells require attack rolls, and you’ve got only a 1 in 20 chance of even threatening a critical. If you threaten, you’ve got to confirm, and then you have to actually succeed at the CMB check. You could play with this Revelation from 1st level to 20th and probably see one trip.
(1) Crystal Sight: If you’ve ever wanted to know what’s behind that dungeon door without actually opening it, Crystal Sight trivializes the matter. Also makes finding secret passages a breeze!
(1) Mighty Pebble: I used to think this power sucked, until I realized that it’s almost identical to an Alchemist’s Bombs. It deals bludgeoning damage—which will always be susceptible to DR—but at least the enhancement bonus scales decently. Probably the largest limitation is how few uses per day you get. Still quite good!
(1) Rock Throwing: Another Revelation that I used to dismiss out of hand, but the bones are there if you’re willing to build for it. The basic strategy here is to pick up a belt of mighty hurling, pump your STR as high as you can get it while still leaving room for a score of ~14 in DEX, then grow as large as you can. DEX is mainly there as a stopgap for accuracy and AC in the early levels, after which STR takes over with the belt. If you can grow large through righteous might or a wand of enlarge person, you’re well on your way as long as you spec into the usual ranged feats—Precise Shot, Point-Blank Shot, and Rapid Shot are probably the three you’ll need most. Might want to have a dedicated bag of holding filled with various rock sizes so that you don’t have to put up with your GM’s whims about whether rocks are available at hand.
(1) Shard Explosion: Shard Explosion can be used reactively to deal some damage to enemies that are up in your face, or proactively to prevent a charge or other offensive advance from reaching you easily. The damage isn’t super great, but it’s nice to have a little battlefield control packaged in.
(1) Stone Stability: I wish you got a blanket increase to your CMD with Stone Stability, rather than extra Trip-related feats. As previously established, Clobbering Strike won’t do you the slightest bit of good; even with the Improved and Greater Trip feats, your CMB will always lag behind full-BAB classes—and even they have a hell of a time trying to get a Trip off against enemies with multiple legs, flight, and monumentally high CMD scores. Get it for the defense, not the offense.
(1) Touch of Acid: Terrible damage. Terrible Revelation.
(7) Earth Glide: Novel movement modalities are a win, win, win. Earth Glide can be used for scouting, tactical positioning, and general defense. Be mindful, though, that casters with decent INT or WIS scores will quickly realize that they can ready spells to push you out of your soily milieu.
(7) Steelbreaker Skin: As with any Sunder-adjacent power, be aware that it’s your loot you’re breaking. The math here is a little weird: blades and metal-hafted weapons have Hardness 10, so you won’t even begin to deal damage to them until 11th level. Projectile weapons and any weapon featuring wood in the haft (axes, spears, etc.) have Hardness 5, so you can destroy those easily. Note, however, that each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to the Hardness. All things considered, you won’t be consistently breaking enemies upon your iron skin until 15th level, when you ignore a majority of hardness. It’s a cool, flavorful power, just not as awe-inspiring as it initially sounds until late, late game.
Role
Even more than other setting-specific Mysteries like Nature or Solar, the Streets Mystery has got to be used in a campaign that takes place exclusively (or almost exclusively) in an urban environment—think Curse of the Crimson Throne, early portions of Hell’s Rebels, etc. The Mystery as a whole focuses on abilities that make you and your allies difficult to pin down, find, or trap, including a host of Illusion, Divination, and Abjuration spells and Revelations. Streets is very much a jack of all trades, master of none Mystery, which leads me to think that it would be more effective in the hands of an allied NPC than in the hands of a PC. Still, if you want to be an urban Recon god who can get her team out of nearly any sticky situation, consider Streets.
Recon > Skills, Support, Utility > Anticaster, Melee, Tank > Blasting, Debuffing, Control, Ranged, Summoning
Bonus Skills
Perception and Stealth are both key to the Streets playstyle of unobserved spying. Knowledge (Local) nets you humanoids—the most common enemies in urban campaigns—and the useful face skill Bluff.
Bonus Spells
(2) Disguise Self: Alter self is usually safer because, as a polymorph effect, it doesn’t allow a Will save to disbelieve. Disguise self will still see plenty of play, but it’s obviated by the cheap, at-will wondrous item hat of disguise.
(4) Detect Thoughts: One of the very few ways in Pathfinder to receive metainformation about targets, detect thoughts can tell you what someone’s INT score is in addition to revealing thoughts. Just remember that it’s your GM telling you what that NPC is thinking, and that NPC will be thinking whatever the GM needs them to be thinking about in order to drive the story forward.
(6) Glyph of Warding: The blast glyph is weak, the material component gets tiresome, and you only have so many good 3rd-level spells. Best just to throw in a bestow curse and leave this at the entrance to your hideout.
(8) Illusory Wall: Perfect for making good on a getaway, concealing an ambush, hiding a shady conversation from prying eyes, etc. I won’t say it’ll come up all the time, but it’s a decent bet you might use it once per day in an urban campaign. And it’s permanent! Create your own illusory labyrinth with this baby.
(10) False Vision: You don’t necessarily know when someone is scrying on you, and even if you did, you couldn’t keep up the material component cost permanently. It’s not of much use to me.
(12) Getaway: Now here’s a panic button. Fight goes south, you’re instantly back in your safehouse, ready to kick back and regroup. It’s just as good for you as it is for Wizards and Bards.
(14) Screen: Here’s what false vision should have been: a component-less, no-save scrying blocker. Assuming your safehouse can’t be viewed directly (it can’t be viewed directly, right?) you’re more or less safe from prying eyes. Hell, you could hide out in a bunker, then plant an entire illusory mansion right on top of yourself.
(16) Mage’s Magnificent Mansion: Of course, you don’t really need an illusory mansion, because you can simply create a real one whenever you want. MMM is a great QoL spell, and you automatically have some defense against scrying because you’re on another plane.
(18) Clone: And now you can’t die. Assuming you’ve got the scratch to pay for it, clone simply makes death a thing of the past—anytime you’re killed, you re-inhabit a body, start a new clone cooking, recover your equipment, and start over again.
Revelations
(1) The City Provides: Anything? So...a huge treasure chest?A collapsible rowboat? A common waffle iron? The City Provides is actually quite the flexible Revelation, but is limited by its duration and uses per day.
(1) Eyes of the Streets: Getting a 4th-level spell at 1st level is mighty cool, and Divination magic never really goes out of style. Very nice for scouting out dungeons, hostile areas, etc. before your team goes in. Once again, though, would it break the bank to give you more than one use per day?
(1) Face in the Crowd: The bonus to Stealth is untyped; we like that. Hiding while observed is even better, though, and lets you stalk your prey in a crowd without them ever knowing you’re there.
(1) Keep to the Corners: Free rerolls on Reflex saves? Sure, why not. Reflex is among the weakest of the Oracle’s saves. Never know when it might save you from massive damage or a dimensional anchor.
(1) Knife in the Dark: You might hate that this Revelation doesn’t grant more permanent access to Sneak Attack. I know I hated it a little at first for that, too. Honestly, though, Sneak Attack is super finicky to set up, so you won’t even need access to it all the time. If you find yourself invisible, flanking with the team Paladin, fighting a blinded enemy, etc., it’s there for you at full scaling; if that doesn’t happen, well, even full access wouldn’t have done anything for you. It’s the one combat power that Streets Oracles get, so you know you’re going to take it anyway.
(1) Nooks and Crannies: Hmmm. Does your GM play with these rules? Do you get in chases very often? I can’t see Nooks and Crannies providing much benefit even in an urban campaign.
(1) Secrets of the City: 100% unnecessary. Divination spells typically have long ranges, and you’d have plenty of tools to conceal or disguise yourself even if you needed to cast a Divination spell at close range.
(1) Shroud of the City: Veil is peerless when it comes to infiltration: disguise yourselves as the most boring laborers possible, then enter the king’s castle for the feast unnoticed; pretend to be a work crew while staking out a rival’s lair; rush around a corner during a chase and instantly blend the team with the crowd. The Vigilante has a similar power, Many Guises, and it’s awesome for getting you into places that you shouldn’t be.
(1) The Streets Are Your Friend: The skill buff is unlimited; however, the bonus is small, and competence bonuses are the single most common bonus type in Pathfinder.
Role
I enjoy the Life Mystery, but for my taste, it’s too much of a one-trick pony: you heal stuff, and if that doesn’t work, you heal it some more. With the exception of the Spirit Boost Revelation, however, Life is far too reactive, in that healing, restoration, etc. force you to stay one step behind enemies while they beat your teammates up. The Succor Mystery does nearly everything that Life does but does it proactively. You’ve got an incredibly high number of top-shelf buffs, including shield of fortification, stoneskin, greater heroism, Spirit Boost, and Perfect Aid, as well as an equally high number of debuffs, including ray of enfeeblement, greater spellcrash, Pitiful Foe, and Curse of Dampening. The difference between reactive and proactive may seem purely academic, but I promise that it’s not: every point of damage that your teammates don’t take is a point that you don’t have to heal later; every point of damage they can deal out ends combats quicker, with fewer chances for nasty spells, conditions, and critical hits; every hit that Shell of Succor soaks up is a hit that can’t cause paralysis, blindness, poison, disease, or negative levels. Life Oracles can still out-heal you with Energy Body, Life Link, and Channels, but I’d argue that Succor is better—maybe even much better—at saving lives. With Aid Another, Teamwork feats, and buffs and debuffs abundantly interspersed, Succor is definitely among the Top 5 Support Mysteries out there.
Debuffing, Support > Anticaster, Melee, Tank > Blasting, Control, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Summoning, Utility
Bonus Skills
Among the weakest skill lists out there, unfortunately. Handle Animal...I mean, why is it here? And Survival? Maybe some cursory connection? Knowledge (Nature) is your only really good pick-up, cool for RPing an herbalist or, I don’t know, a Reiki practitioner or something.
Bonus Spells
(2) Ray of Enfeeblement: Fortitude half is the ray’s saving grace. You might not always blast them for the full penalty, but you’ll always do something. Good thing, because Fortitude is the strongest save with increasing level.
(4) Shield of Fortification: Crits and Sneak Attacks kill, yo. Reducing their killing capacity is a noble aim.
(6) Coordinated Effort: Inquisitors love this spell; it’s a little more dangerous for you, primarily because you have to be a part of the group triggering the effect in order to get one at all. To use the Outflank example above, you have to be one of the two flanking PCs. Now, many of the best abilities of Succor Oracles (Perfect Aid, Teamwork Mastery, coordinated effort, cure x wounds, etc.) work only in melee range, but it’s dangerous for you to be there with no armor Revelation or CHA-to-AC ability to your name. Your best defense will always be good debuffing. At any rate, if you’re interested in knowing your Teamwork options better, see my Inquisitor guide.
(8) Greater Shield of Fortification: As shield of fortification, but a little bit stronger and more expensive.
(10) Stoneskin: Primo defensive buff, if limited by the expensive material component.
(12) Greater Heroism: And to pair nicely with stoneskin, a top-shelf offensive buff. Pity the duration is shorter than heroism.
(14) Expend: Will negates, and abilities with the most number of uses per day (read: the weakest abilities) are expended first. You might think that you’ll snag more than one charge per casting—and you might—but you really can’t count on it. Bogus, bogus 7th-level spell.
(16) Greater Spellcrash: Greater spellcrash at least targets high-level spells first, rather than low-level spells, which makes it better than expend. Decent for forcing casters to burn precious resources.
(18) Wall of Suppression: Movement isn’t hampered at all by the wall, so an enemy caster is likely to just pass through and continue casting as normal. The wall also doesn’t strip or dispel effects, merely suppress them, so it’s no good for forcing a hard choice between pre-buffs and inferior positioning. I have a hard time seeing why you wouldn’t choose wall of clockwork or another, cheaper control spell.
Revelations
(1) Enhanced Cures: Doesn’t work on wands, only spells that you yourself cast. It’s decent, I guess, but less powerful than you think.
(1) Enhanced Inflictions: Even worse than Enhanced Cures, and that’s saying something.
(1) Perfect Aid: Aid Another builds are super interesting to me, mostly because Aid Another is an overlooked action that doesn’t come into its own unless you have some very specific class and wondrous item selections. Bards, Cavaliers, and Halflings usually do it best; no more. Now you do it best, with an eventual +7 to the check and Bodyguard for free. Bodyguard is fantastic, but usually works best with Combat Reflexes—you might want to slot that in at some point, even though it’s no longer required. At any rate, Perfect Aid is highly thematic and an absolute game changer when used on squishier ¾ BAB strikers (Rogues, Inquisitors, etc.) that might deal a lot of damage, but only when they hit. Do note that you have to get up into melee range in order to make this build work; consider a Small-size race like Halfling or Gnome.
(1) Pitiful Foe: The curse is [mind-affecting] and requires a failed Will save, so usual restrictions apply; all that aside, however, Pitiful Foe is a really solid curse. The most dangerous thing about enormous enemies isn’t so much that they deal massive damage (although they tend to do that, too) but that there’s no easy way of retreating from them. They’ll keep following 5-foot steps, normal move actions provoke potentially devastating AoOs, and even the Withdraw action can’t protect you when enemies threaten huge swaths of ground. By stopping your opponent from threatening surrounding squares, you’re granting your team risk-free mobility while also denying free damage to the other side. It’s a subtle force multiplier, but incredibly potent. Auto-failing crit confirmations is the other great portion of the ability—especially nasty against enemy Rogues, Magi, Swashbucklers, and other enemies that rely on single, brutal hits to deal their damage.
(1) Spirit Boost: Another improvement to the action economy! Spirit Boost lets you use your healing spells proactively, rather than reactively. To whit: you know that your Barbarian buddy is going to take some hits during combat. If things get bad enough, you’ll have to heal. But what if there’s another critical task that requires your attention at that moment—say, using breath of life before another teammate shuffles off the mortal coil? Without Spirit Boost, you’d be shit out of luck. With Spirit Boost, you can hit your Barbarian with a cure light wounds in the surprise round and feel content in the knowledge that you won’t need to devote as much attention to him for the rest of the fight. The number of temporary HP that you can grant is unfortunately limited to your Oracle level, which knocks the usefulness down a bit, but it’s still excellent for front-line fighters that you know will be taking some pain.
(1) Teamwork Mastery: Teamwork feats are...polarizing. And I say that as a guy who wrote a guide to the Inquisitor. The usual limitation is that both members of a team need to have the feat in order to benefit—if you’ve got Outflank, but your buddy doesn’t, you can kiss that bonus goodbye. Inquisitors get around this limitation with Solo Tactics, and Cavaliers have their own method of granting Teamwork feats to allies; you’ll have to do it with a melee touch attack. Now, granting one Teamwork feat as a standard action isn’t a great use of the action economy, but with the ability being marked (Sp), I think there’s a strong case to be made for treating it as part of the rules on touch-range spells, which state:
“Some touch spells allow you to touch multiple targets. You can touch up to 6 willing targets as part of the casting, but all targets of the spell must be touched in the same round that you finish casting the spell. If the spell allows you to touch targets over multiple rounds, touching 6 creatures is a full-round action.”
The basic idea here is that touching one ally would indeed be a standard action, but you can choose to touch more if you want to. You definitely want to: granting a Teamwork feat to all allies at the start of a battle is quite good, though you should probably expend charges off the ability as if you’d touched everyone individually. At any rate, make the case to your GM; you never know what they’ll say.
(3) Shell of Succor: Shell of Succor isn’t particularly impressive as a pre-healing ability—for that, you’re better off looking to Spirit Boost. Where the Shell shines is in defending particularly susceptible teammates from gruesome, on-hit forced saves. If you’re fighting a creature that doles out a vicious poison, and you just know your GM is going to come gunning for the Wizard at some point, slap on the Shell! Any attack that fails to completely deplete your HP buffer counts as a miss for the purposes of determining whether a save is needed, so judicious application can literally save lives. I wish you got more uses per day, but them’s the breaks.
(7) Combat Healer: You still have to spend spells known to get access to the cure line, and there aren’t many uses per day. It might save your life (or an ally’s) at some point, but for the most part, if an enemy is doing enough damage to warrant in-combat healing, a Succor Oracle is doing their job wrong.
(7) Curse of Dampening: This one is an easy, easy pick. Strength bonuses generally contribute more to damage rolls as levels progress, rather than damage dice, but on a critical hit, Vital Strike, Sneak Attack, or similar ability that multiplies damage dice, you’re still negating anywhere from 10 to 50 damage per attack. The duration isn’t exactly awe-inspiring, but combats rarely last more than a few rounds anyway. Drop it on a melee bruiser and watch your GM’s frustration start to mount.
(7) Soul Siphon: You think to yourself, “Negative levels! Yippie ki yay, motherfucker!” right up until you remember that a negative level is just a cumulative -1 to everything, and you get it just once per day. The fact that you heal a couple HP in the process is pretty insignificant: negative levels are designed to be dealt en masse, either through spells like energy drain or through Undead abilities that can force a Will save on each hit. One negative level ain’t gonna slow anyone down.
Role
“No good times / No bad times / There’s no times at all, just the New York Times.” Thanks, Simon & Garfunkel, you captured the mood perfectly. Put out another album like Bookends soon, please. Much like the Shadow Mystery, Time simply doesn’t have any weak links. An incredibly strong spell and Revelation list make them the A+ Debuffing Mystery of the Paizo-official Mysteries, although there’s some decent blasting (disintegrate), skill support (Knowledge of the Ages), and combat functionality (Time Hop, Rewind Time, Temporal Celerity) in here, as well. With relatively weak 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells and a plethora of useful Revelations, Time is the ideal candidate for the Dual-Cursed archetype. Your buffing and debuffing capabilities will be almost unparalleled, and you lose comparatively little—the loss of the skill list is the only part that stings a bit, since it’s so good. The basic playbook is to win initiative with Temporal Celerity, throw up Time Flicker and haste from Speed or Slow Time, then set about dismantling the competition. Aging Touch will toast melee bruisers, while Erase From Time and true seeing from Time Sight deny casters their favorite tricks. If you ever get in a tight spot, use Rewind Time to reroll the save or Time Hop to escape from threatened range; assuming you’re grabbing Dual-Cursed, ill omen and the Misfortune Revelation can make you even more maddening to try to take down.
Anticaster, Debuffing > Control, Melee, Tank, Utility > Recon, Skills > Blasting, Ranged, Summoning, Support
Bonus Skills
And you thought Time couldn’t get any better: Perception and Use Magic Device are the two very best skills you could get a bonus in, and Knowledge (Arcana) isn’t bad for Dragons, Magical Beasts, etc. You don’t have a method of getting Fly in-Mystery, as it were, but shield of wings is always good for that.
Bonus Spells
(2) Memory Lapse: The lost window of memory is small enough that you’d have trouble using it effectively. Still flavorful and fun: you’re literally making time disappear in your target’s mind.
(4) Gentle Repose: Guard against the ravages of time, etc. etc. Unfortunately, gentle repose is the very definition of a shitty spell known. Niche, based around PC death, no real utility...it should be a scroll, not something you perpetually have at hand.
(6) Sands of Time: A mild debuff, but then again, there’s no save allowed. Cool against Constructs and enemies’ weaponry, too!
(8) Threefold Aspect: Apart from being unsettling, threefold aspect is quite the decent little buff spell that allows you to shift around some attribute scores at will. Good for overcoming mild ability damage, bulking yourself up against martial characters or casters, or suddenly developing proficiency in a certain skill. Nice disguise ability, too! Enemies might know that you look similar to someone they know, yet be unable to quite place you.
(10) Permanency: In a world of short-lived buff spells, permanency is a big deal. Not only can you now create your own permanently accessible demiplane, you can also amp up your extrasensory abilities with see invisibility, aura sight, enchantment sight, and the like.
(12) Contingency: The ultimate in pre-planning. “When I am X, cast Y automatically” is a phenomenal tool. “When I am grappled or swallowed whole, cast freedom of movement.” “When I am knocked unconscious, cast plane shift targeting my demiplane.” “When I am targeted with an Enchantment spell, cast enchantment foil.” With so many possibilities here, it’s no wonder that high-level Wizards are essentially gods.
(14) Disintegrate: Okay, okay, I’ll bite on the blast. Disintegrate doesn’t just deal awesome damage, it also mulches up force effects that other casters like to use and can blow holes through dungeon walls. Expensive resource to use, yet indispensable at the right moment.
(16) Temporal Stasis: Not quite as good as imprisonment from the Outer Rifts spell list, but almost. Assuming that you force the save (hardest), pass SR (less hard), and succeed at the touch attack (easy peasy), your enemy is simply gone. Throw them in your bag of holding, bury them in an active volcano, conceal them behind every magical barrier known to man in your own personal demiplane—options are open once they’re kaput.
(18) Time Stop: The “I Win” button of high-level arcane casters, time stop lets you build up an unstoppable head of steam with buffing and battlefield control spells.
Revelations
(1) Aging Touch: Quite, quite good, and importantly, no save. Some enemy types will be immune to ability damage, of course, but more are not. The STR damage scales nicely, and it’s not a bad number of uses per day. The pseudo-Sunder effect is a nice perk, too.
(1) Erase From Time: Ohhh, now here’s a wicked one. It’s terrible, really: your enemy goes away with no chance of acting in the interim, while you and your allies can lay down pits, summon monsters, ready actions, mop up minions...and then you know exactly where and when they’ll appear again. A tool for ending casters, if ever there was one.
(1) Knowledge of the Ages: Might as well pile some ranks into all of the relevant Knowledge skills, because there’s no harm in rolling twice on enemy identifications, etc. You get enough uses per day for it to be a regular tool right off the bat.
(1) Momentary Glimpse: Hmmm. It’s flexible, I don’t deny that; however, a +2 doesn’t scale well into later levels. Still okay, but it should be a lower priority in your build.
(1) Temporal Celerity: The Battle Mystery gets an identical Revelation, War Sight, and the chassis is...well, it’s still amazing. Perhaps even more amazing for you, because while all Battle Oracles are empowered to do is beat stuff up harder, Time Oracles stand a very real chance of simply burying enemies beneath debuffs if they move first. How is that fight against the GM’s BBEG going to go if you can hit their flat-footed Touch AC with Erase From Time? That’s an encounter that’s over before it began.
(3) Time Flicker: Really solid defensive power that lets you stand more confidently in weapon-smacking range. By the time you reach 5th level or so, you should have enough duration stored up to last for every combat of the day.
(7) Rewind Time: Hoo yeah. Save-or-die effects aren’t looking so scary when you can instantly reroll your saves, are they?
(7) Speed or Slow Time: Haste really is all it’s cracked up to be, to the point that you want to do everything you can to ensure that it’s available during every encounter. A Wizard might have that taken care of, but if not, you sure as hell do. Marked down a bit for few uses per day.
(7) Time Hop: Get-out-of-jail-free card on grapples, monsters with enormous reach, and other nasty situations. This Mystery really can do it all.
(11) Time Sight: True seeing is amazing, but the spell version is limited by the material component. Well, not anymore! You get it for free, and probably any time you could possibly want it. I don’t really understand how moment of prescience works in this context. Can you take the +25 every round? Does doing so expend the remainder of your duration? One minute of duration? It could use some clarification. Foresight is actually kind of tame as a buff, but the advanced warning of danger is always nice to have. See whether your GM will let you choose which “version” of Time Sight to use. I know I’d pick true seeing most of the time.
Role
Volcano Oracles, similar to their fiery cousins over in the Flame Mystery, are Blasters first and foremost. They’re equally dependent on fire damage to work their combat role, which leaves them vulnerable to innate resistance, immunity, and common buffing spells like resist energy. The basic tactics of Volcano Oracles go as follows: keep yourself polymorphed into an Elemental, lay down battlefield control, fortify your position using Ash Cloud (potentially using the CON boost from your Elemental form to offset the CON damage of Breath of Creation) then start blasting away; once you’ve got enough of the battlefield burning, leverage Fiery Conduit to start hitting people with touch-range debuffs like bestow curse. Subtle it’s not, and it might not even be effective in most contexts. Certainly, Oracles don’t have the spell list to fully support the blasting role, as Sorcerers do. As with the Flame Mystery, Volcano may be most useful in campaigns like Reign of Winter where enemies are frequently susceptible to fire damage.
Blasting, Ranged > Control, Debuffing, Tank > Anticaster, Melee, Recon, Skills, Summoning, Support, Utility
Bonus Skills
Oof. Intimidate is good enough, I guess, but Climb, Knowledge (Geography), and Survival all fall pretty flat. Nooot the best skill list out there.
Bonus Spells
(2) Burning Hands: Decent early-game fire damage; a good tool for swarms. Beyond that, it doesn’t scale well.
(4) Heat Metal: Takes far too long for the damage to get rolling and relies on manufactured weapons or armor. Most enemies, especially those with even rudimentary fire resistance, will just ignore it and keep on trucking.
(6) Protection from Energy: Versatile and powerful. You’d be taking it if it weren’t already on your list.
(8) Volcanic Storm: No save and some measure of battlefield control boost what could have otherwise been a lackluster blast into a slightly higher echelon.
(10) Geyser: We’re targeting Reflex saves, which is good: larger enemies, not smaller, are the rule as levels tick by. And no SR! Always a perk for blasts. Best used in bottlenecks or strategic choke points where enemies can be forced into failing the save repeatedly. Maybe hit the tank with protection from energy first so that boiling droplet damage isn’t a going concern.
(12) Contagious Flame: 4d6 isn’t a ton of damage, and because contagious flame consists of many smaller hits, energy resistance will short-circuit your blast in a hurry. Still, no save, and ranged touch is almost criminally easy to hit at this level. Assuming no fire resistance, probably a green; with fire resistance (any at all, really) it’s yellow or even red.
(14) Fire Storm: Still targeting Reflex, good, good. Amped-up damage in a single hit is worth a bit, and the relatively high save DC for the burning effect is worth a bit more. It’s 14th level, though, and many enemies will simply laugh at pure fire damage.
(16) Wall of Lava: Walls and other battlefield control spells almost always get the nod from me, and this wall is beefy, both in terms of HP and damage. Even more coolness if you can induce a martial friend to Bull Rush people into the lava.
(18) Meteor Swarm: Resistance is applied once. You need that for a blast, and the clause really allows meteor swarm to reach its full potential.
Revelations
(1) Ash Cloud: Ash Cloud is the first on your list, and it should absolutely be the first Revelation you take. At-will obscuring mist that you can see through gives you a mobile casting platform: you can see out; enemies can’t see in. You get plenty of defense, while sacrificing none of the offense.
(1) Breath of Creation: So long as you’re protected by your Ash Cloud, you might not actually notice the dip in HP and Fortitude saves, whereas enemies will definitely notice the increase in spell save DCs. Where the heck are you going to get an active volcano at a moment’s notice, though? Ask your GM if you can get the same bonuses by huffing alchemist’s fire.
(1) Burning Magic: Burning Magic isn’t good on its own, but it’s the easiest way to proc Fiery Conduit, which is good, especially for touch-range debuffing.
(1) Cleansing Flames: It’s too bad you don’t get a bonus to the save against the ongoing effect, but Cleansing Flames is at least flexible enough to defend you from dominate person, poisons, diseases, etc. Just mind you don’t kill yourself with it.
(1) Erupt: The usual problems of fire resistance scaling faster than your damage, and a Reflex for half. Swift action cast makes it unusual, though, and you may find a use for it because it can be used in conjunction with another standard action spell.
(1) Fiery Conduit: One of the only must-have Revelations in the Mystery, Fiery Conduit lets you cast nasty touch-range debuffs like bestow curse from out of the safety of your own ash cloud. Because you need continuous fire damage to proc Fiery Conduit, you might want to pair it with Burning Magic. I’m not saying Burning Magic is great—far from it—but it’s your most reliable method of making people burn, baby, burn.
(1) Touch of Flame: Horrendous damage. Blah, blah, blah.
(3) Lava Walk: Just too niche for everyday use.
(7) Magma Form: Polymorph abilities are always, always good, and nothing about being an Elemental prevents you from casting. Polymorph abilities are often misunderstood, though, so make sure you read up on it here. You lose your armor bonuses and weapons, but gain limited Elemental immunities and various attribute increases.
(7) Pyroclastic Shove: The size bonus mostly compensates for your ¾ BAB; even so, Bull Rush is a tough maneuver to pull off against enormous enemies with sky-high CMD scores, and you get none of the damage if the maneuver doesn’t land. Like so many of the blast spells on your list, the limitations give it a low ceiling.
Role
Waves Oracles obviously excel in aquatic campaigns like Ruins of Azlant or Skull & Shackles, but they’re so much more than that! They’ve got some decent control ability through spells like wall of ice, geyser, and vortex, as well as Revelations like Blizzard and Water Sight; some great combat utility through fluid form, seamantle, Fluid Nature, Ice Armor, and Water Form; and even good debuffing potential through Punitive Transformation and Freezing Spells. Basic flowchart involves you going into Elemental shape, partitioning the battlefield with wall of ice, controlling choke points with geyser, slowing enemies with Slowing Spells, abusing vision tactics with Water Sight and obscuring mist, and targeting casters with Punitive Transformation before they can get rolling. The Mystery can fill many roles, but it’s perhaps best used as a Controller/Debuffer that lives confidently in melee range.
Control, Debuffing > Tank, Utility > Blasting, Recon, Anticaster > Melee, Ranged, Skills, Summoning, Support
Bonus Skills
No surprises that Swim gets included on the list, although you yourself are unlikely to need it with touch of the sea, slipstream, seamantle, etc. on your spell list; a single rank will likely be sufficient. Acrobatics and Escape Artist are interesting inclusions, clearly meant to make you harder to hit with AoOs and Grapples. I like both of them. Lastly, Knowledge (Nature) is a pretty good Knowledge skill that identifies Animals, etc. Decent list!
Bonus Spells
(2) Touch of the Sea: A nice duration and an incredibly useful effect make touch of the sea ideal for early-level aquatic exploration. Water is typically an environment in which PCs have a profound combat disadvantage; this spell starts to place you on an even footing with aquatic creatures.
(4) Slipstream: It’s similar to a spell like expeditious retreat when on land, but gets even better underwater. Touch of the sea + slipstream can lead to one scary-fast swimmer.
(6) Water Breathing: Of course, the fastest swim speed in the world won’t matter unless you can breathe underwater! Water breathing has an excellent duration and can be used on the whole team out of the box, so it’ll always find a place in the rotation. Remember that if you fall unconscious underwater and can’t breathe, you begin to drown the next turn. That’s crazy. You don’t want that.
(8) Wall of Ice: The wall isn’t the sturdiest thing on God’s green earth; it does, however, come along a level before wall of stone and wall of clockwork, and is therefore one of your earliest battlefield control spells that can separate bosses from minions, casters from the martials, ranged attackers from valid targets. It’s good to get it.
(10) Geyser: We’re targeting Reflex saves, which is good: larger enemies, not smaller, are the rule as levels tick by. And no SR! Always a perk for blasts. Best used in bottlenecks or strategic choke points where enemies can be forced into failing the save repeatedly. Maybe hit the tank with protection from energy first so that boiling droplet damage isn’t a going concern.
(12) Fluid Form: DR, increased reach for better touch spells and AoOs, and a fantastic swim speed make for a very solid spell. Fluid form has no verbal component, so it can be cast at will while silenced, deafened, or underwater. Do note that creatures of the (Water) subtype are sometimes vulnerable to spells that Humanoids or Native Outsiders aren’t.
(14) Vortex: It’s unfortunate that you’re restricted in size to Large enemies or smaller, and that the control function of the vortex doesn’t work on anything except Medium and smaller creatures. Big enemies tend to be the least able to pass Reflex saves, but you simply can’t affect Huge or larger creatures. Perhaps best for dragging down minions while you deal with a larger enemy.
(16) Seamantle: It’s AC, it’s Reflex saves, it’s an attack, it’s dispel magic, it’s protection against fire-based blast spells: it’s seamantle! This is a really excellent self-buff, made all the better in aquatic settings. You become a lot more tanky when you’ve got this buff up, so don’t hesitate to get in the mix and go to town.
(18) Tsunami: The median CMD score of CR 18 monsters is 49, while the median Fortitude save is +21. Taking as a given a CL of 18, a CHA modifier around +12 (+4 initial, +2 from attribute increases, +6 headband, plus innate bonuses from manuals or tomes), and a 9th-level spell, you can expect your wave’s CMB score to be +38 (CL 18 + CHA 12 + Wave Size 8) and your save DC to be 31 (10 + CHA 12 + 9 Spell Level). The average CR 18 enemy therefore has a 50% chance, roughly speaking, to take half damage or avoid being carried away. Against enemies at a higher CR, your chances might drop as low as 25%. If you’re fighting humanoid enemies that can’t easily grow past Medium size, sure, go nuts with tsunami. Just don’t expect it to work against most of the world-ending threats you face at this level.
Revelations
(1) Fluid Nature: Maneuvers kill, crits kill, just plain getting hit kills. Fluid Nature is a neat little defensive package, especially for the squishier Oracle chassis. Go for it.
(1) Fluid Travel: Water walking won’t be universally useful, but a 60-ft. Swim speed and water breathing for hours per level sure as hell will be. Another solid, solid power, and 100% worth it after 7th level.
(1) Freezing Spells: Slow is an amazing debuff. Staggered is an amazing condition. Here’s the thing, though: you don’t actually have any spells on the Mystery list that fulfill the conditions! Wall of ice is the only one to deal cold damage, and it’s got no save. You also don’t have many damage-dealing ice spells on the Oracle list. Cold ice strike is good as a Reflex save-based spell, but doesn’t come along until 6th-level spells, so a UMD check with a wand of snowball (the Fortitude partial version) in early levels or a wand of flurry of snowballs at later levels will probably be your best bets. You might want to wait until 11th level to take it for both the upgraded staggered duration and the easier access to spell levels and UMD checks.
(1) Ice Armor: As good as all the other armor Revelations, and even better in areas on Golarion like Irrisen.
(1) Icy Skin: Sure! Energy resistance is great, especially for campaigns like Reign of Winter.
(1) Water Sight: Divination is good enough on its own, but we’re here for the ability to see through fog and mist. Obscuring mist is almost a guaranteed pick off the Oracle list at 1st level, but the downside is that your teammates can’t see through it. Not anymore! You should probably still take ashen path to allow your party to take advantage of mists and fogs, though.
(1) Wintry Touch: You knew there had to be a stinker. This Revelation is the only one.
(7) Punitive Transformation: Baleful polymorph a bunch of times per day is a win, win, win. The fact that it’s not permanent in Revelation form isn’t really a strike against it, as there’s very little difference in combat between “Enemy is out of the fight for 7 rounds” and “Enemy is out of the fight permanently.”
(7) Water Form: Water Elementals (per elemental body, at least) get bonkers increases to CON, which is great for shoring up your saves and HP. Assuming your Ice Armor can stick with you by casting it after you transform, the form is incredibly tough and great at casting from the middle of a complex melee.
(11) Blizzard: Reflex is by far the weakest save by level, and the damage (especially for an AoE) isn’t too bad. If you’ve got a means of keeping enemies in the area of effect, you can absolutely expect scaling damage, limited visibility, and more difficult Acrobatics checks to kill some people. One of the best blast abilities in any Mystery.
Role
Trickery! Shenanigans! Caprice! Whimsy Oracles specialize in leading enemies up and down, up and down. Lord, what fools these mortals be! Like most Fey, the Mystery comes packed with deceptions, sneaks, ruses, fake-outs, con jobs, and legerdemains. You’ve got some fairly potent debuffing through faerie fire, shamefully overdressed, irresistible dance, Whimsical Prank, and Pure Whimsy; some defensive powers like Flicker and Misdirection Mastery; and some skill bonuses like Versatile Comedy. Where the Mystery truly excels, however, is lateral thinking and creative problem-solving: hell, major image alone can do that for you. Whimsy Oracles will probably start by slapping a debuff or two on threatening targets; if they ever get pinned down in one place, they can always use Misdirection Mastery to plow that ugly bruiser’s greatsword into an ally, pull someone’s trousers down with Whimsical Prank, or simply disappear entirely with mislead or Flicker. Between Capricious Misdirection, Assumed Form, Versatile Comedy buffing their Bluff scores into god-tier, they’re also savants in the field of lying, disguise, and cheating Divination magic. These Oracles sure don’t have an easy box to fit into, but if you’ve ever wanted to play a Fey Trickster like Loki of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Whimsy is your Mystery.
Anticaster, Debuffing, Recon > Utility > Control, Melee, Skills, Summoning, Tank > Blasting, Ranged, Support
Bonus Skills
Bluff and Stealth are absolutely integral to the playstyle. Those should get as many ranks as you can spare them...unless, of course, you picked up Versatile Comedy, in which case ditch Bluff and pump it all into Perform (Comedy) instead. You likely won’t need a great Disguise score, especially once you reach alter self at 7th level with Assumed Form, but one rank wouldn’t hurt. Lastly, Sleight of Hand doesn’t have a lot of uses apart from flavor. It’s cool, just not combat-viable.
Bonus Spells
(2) Faerie Fire: With no save and the ability to shut down the normally highly troublesome invisibility and other common caster tactics, faerie fire is an excellent spell for any Oracle that will do good work from 1 to 20.
(4) Hideous Laughter: Never mind the practicality of carrying around “tiny fruit tarts” as your material component—hideous laughter isn’t that good. You’ve got a small pool of available targets between [mind-affecting], INT requirements, and the various save bonuses granted to creatures of different types. A failed save buys you a round and the prone condition, but more than that you really can’t count on.
(6) Shamefully Overdressed: This spell. Oh, my. What flavor! It’s only worthwhile against humanoids or other creatures that use equipment; however, if they are that sort of creature, you’re getting a progressive debuff as they throw away their items and the equivalent of the staggered condition for rounds per level with no second save. That’s nice.
(8) Major Image: There are so many options for using major image creatively that it almost beggars belief. Everything from intimidating stupid enemies, hiding from pursuit, convincing the gullible of lies that you’re telling, or simulating an attack or invasion is possible.
(10) Lesser Entice Fey: As I’ve said before about the planar ally suite of spells, entice fey can be incredibly powerful or incredibly dangerous, depending on the task you set and the Fey entity you summon. Fey are capricious creatures first and foremost, so just remember that what starts as a willingness to help you might easily end in a murderous rage, or vice versa. Be careful with these guys, and keep some cold iron within reach.
(12) Mislead: A top-shelf defensive power that will keep you alive in all but the direst situations. It’s just too bad that you don’t get Sneak Attack to take advantage of all the invisibility that the Whimsy Mystery has going on.
(14) Entice Fey: As above, but more powerful.
(16) Irresistible Dance: Because a Will save only reduces the duration to 1 round, rather than negating the effect entirely, you can force anything without blanket immunity to [mind-affecting] effects to dance like no one’s watching. Verbal-only components means it’s also a fantastic way to escape from a grapple or pin, although you’ve had freedom of movement for, like, eight levels at this point.
(18) Greater Entice Fey: You’re messing with the big boys at this point. Just mind your precautions and be reasonable about your demands.
Revelations
(1) Assumed Form: Starting off with a bang! Sure, a hat of disguise is a pretty cheap magical item that can accomplish the same thing, but later iterations of the Revelation give you unlimited alter self and all the goodies that go along with that. It’s just so much fun to become a different person every time someone sees you, and can even help you cement a reputation as a large-scale operation, even if you’re only one PC.
(1) Flicker: Poor Clerics and Oracles: everyone gets invisibility except them. Yeah, swift action vanish is incredibly good. Once again, I only wish you had Sneak Attack dice to take advantage of it. A gestalt or VMC goal, maybe?
(1) Versatile Comedy: If you’re going with a Feint, Misdirection Mastery, or Demoralize build, this Revelation can give you a lot of bang for your buck. It’s otherwise fairly skippable unless you want to stretch your skill ranks out as the party face.
(1) Whimsical Prank: Yeaaah, I can get behind this Revelation. Dirty Trick is consistently rated as one of the best combat maneuvers due to its versatility: you can pull someone’s pants down and entangle them, throw a little pocket sand to blind them, kick them in the nuts to sicken them...the possibilities are all there, depending on GM fiat, and you pull it off at range, without provoking, and with a better CMB check. It might well be OP in the early game, but remember that CMD scores tend to skyrocket in the mid-to-high levels, when a maneuver check becomes a waste of time.
(1) Misdirection Mastery: Slow entry, and Total Defense has a high opportunity cost when you’re a caster. It’s good enough, especially past 10th level, but your better defensive bet is simply to Flicker out of sight and retreat if you get cornered.
(1) Woodland Caprice: Unnecessary. There’s a reason it’s a popular feature for Druids to trade away with archetypes.
(3) Feywise: Extraordinarily skippable unless you’re playing a game specifically set in the First World. Might be worth a look after you start getting access to the entice fey spell line, just in order to parley better (and fight better if things go sour).
(7) Capricious Misdirection: Misdirection is already an amazing spell; this Revelation is even better because its DC will scale with your Oracle level and you can designate new targets at any time.
(7) Pure Whimsy: The rod of wonders is hamstrung by its perpetually low save DCs, whereas Pure Whimsy is not. And the effects here aren’t bad! Mostly blasts and debuffs, which you should be fine with. Limited uses per day keep it from attaining blue status.
(7) Whimsical Step: Not sure I approve of getting uses per day, rather than feet traveled. Still, teleportation is teleportation. Not sure why they framed it as teleportation rather than dimension door.
Role
The Wind Mystery is having a bit of an identity crisis. The best parts of the chassis would suggest a role as a sturdy, highly mobile Recon and Divination specialist, capable of going where others can’t and returning with the entire tactical layout and disposition of the enemy stronghold in their head. The rest of the Mystery leans hard into blasting, though, and not the good kind of blasting. Oh, sure, there are some okay control spells on the list, and you’ll definitely be set against swarms, but overall the Wind Mystery doesn’t feel like it lives up to its potential. I consider it to be a prime candidate for archetypes like Elementalist Oracle or Enlightened Philosopher that let you retain the cream-of-the-crop Revelations like Wind Sight, Air Barrier, and Invisibility while ditching the mediocre spell list.
Recon > Blasting, Tank > Control, Ranged, Utility > Anticaster, Debuffing, Melee, Skills, Summoning, Support
Bonus Skills
The Wind Mystery contains all the skills you’d expect to have for a recon specialist: Fly, Stealth, Escape Artist, and Acrobatics. See what I mean? Identity crisis.
Bonus Spells
(2) Alter Winds: The minute-long casting time and touch range all but ensure that you’ll only use alter winds if you’re on a sailboat. Maybe decent for Skull & Shackles, but useless everywhere else.
(4) Gust of Wind: Both the Fortitude save and size limitations limit gust of wind’s shelf life when used against enemies directly; however, it’s perpetually good at dissipating fog or cloud spells like obscuring mist, cloudkill, or incendiary cloud. Good against swarms, too, which are always composed of Tiny, Diminutive, or Fine-sized creatures that can’t easily resist the gale-force winds.
(6) Cloak of Winds: The ranged attack penalty is good enough for the price of admission (especially as it guards against ray spells, not just bullets or arrows) but in cloak of winds we find another potent anti-swarm tool capable of blasting Tiny or smaller creatures away without successfully touching, poisoning, or distracting the cloaked PC.
(8) River of Wind: The spell has some currency as an area-denial effect, and can close off small chokepoints like doorways while you beat a hasty retreat. Fortitude saves continue to get higher as you increase in level, however, and river of wind can’t be counted on to do its work all the time.
(10) Control Winds: There’s a lot you can do with wind, especially once you’re accessing hurricane- and tornado-speed winds. Control the battlefield, rip down structures, toss enemies around like ninepins...Fortitude still negates, unfortunately, but you continue your domination of swarms and other small creatures.
(12) Scirocco: Scirocco is a really cool spell that unfortunately targets many enemies’ greatest strengths: at higher levels, Fortitude is the strongest monster save, fire is the most commonly resisted energy type, and certain creature types (Oozes, Undead, Elementals, and Constructs, e.g.) have blanket immunity to fatigue or exhaustion. It’s not bad, per se—you just won’t often get all the effects advertised.
(14) Control Weather: I’m not the biggest fan of control weather. You’re as likely to destroy yourselves and innocent civilians as your enemies with truly powerful weather conditions, and the rules for environmental conditions are scant. A 10-minute casting time with a further 10 minutes of wait time don’t exactly help, either.
(16) Whirlwind: 3d6 damage is an almost insultingly low amount of damage to deal at 16th level. Additionally, casters need to devote their standard action to maintaining the whirlwind, which has an extraordinarily high opportunity cost. Pass.
(18) Winds of Vengeance: The flavor here is awesome, but remember: this is a 9th-level spell, the absolute pinnacle of your power. This is the age of miracle, wish, and true resurrection. Do you really want to get a fly speed and some damage? It’s not bad, as free spells go, just underwhelming at 9th level. I’d put it more around 7th.
Revelations
(1) Air Barrier: I rate this Revelation higher than other armor Revelations because, frankly, a 50% miss chance against arrows, rays, and any ranged attack requiring an attack roll is absolutely nutso. Deflect a disintegrate with your Air Barrier? Yeah, you’re signing off on that.
(1) Lightning Breath: A 30-ft. line will only ever reliably hit two enemies, and d4s are the worst damage die; on the other hand, electricity resistance isn’t super common, and Reflex saves are the weakest with level. It doesn’t blow my skirt up, but it’s okay.
(1) Spark Skin: Electricity damage isn’t quite as common as cold or fire, but a defensive power is a defensive power. I’ll rate it a solid B minus.
(1) Touch of Electricity: The usual terrible damage for these 3 + CHA touch powers.
(1) Vortex Spells: You have to score a critical hit, which means you need to make an attack roll (most spells don’t even need one), roll a Nat 20 (5% chance of that happening), then confirm the crit. For one round of staggered. No.
(1) Wind Sight: Incredibly, incredibly powerful Divination magic due to its ability to move around corners, through gaps under doors, and give you auditory and visual information at the same time. It’s even marked as (Ex) somehow, so you can scout out areas protected by antimagic fields. My one regret is that you don’t get a longer duration, but that would probably be too powerful.
(3) Invisibility: Haha, yep. Functionally unlimited invisibility is indeed a blue.
(7) Gaseous Form: Gaseous form isn’t much of anything: not good, not bad, just a middle-of-the-road scouting power without real combat applications. Skippable.
(7) Thunderburst: DR applies, with a Fortitude save for half. *Sigh.* Best used to try to take some minions out of a longer, tougher fight, or impose a penalty on casters. It won’t cripple any big-bads.
(7) Wings of Air: The best of all the flight Revelations for its excellent speed and maneuverability.
Role
Like Shadow and Time, the Winter Mystery is the ultimate battlefield Controller/Debuffer: they lock down high-priority targets using icy prison or Freezing Spells, create a nightmare of ice, sleet, and difficult terrain, then blast away with non-stop cold damage. The Mystery does suffer from an over-reliance on one energy type, with the special irony (shared by the Flame Mystery) of being most defensively capable in themed campaigns like Reign of Winter...where their offenses will suck against cold-immune enemies. Meanwhile, the offensively good campaigns will put them at a defensive disadvantage! Oy gevalt iz mir. This paradox perhaps suggests that Mysteries like Winter and Flame should be used in elementally neutral campaigns, where they can function at relatively even levels in both offense and defense.
Blasting, Control, Debuffing > Anticaster > Summoning, Tank, Utility > Melee, Ranged, Recon, Skills, Support
Bonus Skills
Stealth is an unexpectedly nice addition, especially with Cold Aura granting concealment as a swift action—makes for a good panic button. Intimidate, sure, and Survival helps you make it through the brutal winter. Knowledge (Nature) identifies natural hazards like avalanche zones, as well as pinpointing the weakness of caribou, wolves, and frost firs.
Bonus Spells
(2) Endure Elements: If you’re taking the Winter Mystery, you’re probably playing in an AP like Reign of Winter, and boy howdy, is endure elements going to be useful there. It’s far better as a wand, though.
(4) Frost Fall: Minuscule damage with a Fortitude save means it should only be used against wimpy casters to stagger them.
(6) Sleet Storm: Don’t kid yourself: ain’t nobody gonna fail that Acrobatics check at this level. Sleet storm never goes out of style, though, because of its ability to block all sight in a massive radius with no save or SR. If you want to control the environment with an early-level spell, here’s your pick.
(8) Ice Storm: Oddly enough, an ice storm on top of a sleet storm is a potent combo. Now enemies can only move at one-quarter speed, they’re blind, and you know exactly where they are. Grab ashen path or a similar spell in order to turn your storms into a killing field. Still no save, thankfully, but SR does apply.
(10) Icy Prison: There are precious few things an enemy can do if they fail their save against icy prison. Can’t move, so damaging the ice is out. A DC 25 Strength check isn’t the easiest thing in the world to hit, and may well be impossible for casters or other weaklings. Line of effect is blocked, so enemies can’t do side-along teleportation or other touch spells. Even attempts to blast through the ice might result in damage to the encased enemy. Check out Episode 178 of the Glass Cannon Podcast if you want to see how devastating icy prison can be.
(12) Cone of Cold: Good damage and Reflex for half mean you’ll get full damage more often than not. Make sure you know about immunities and resistances before blowing a 6th-level spell on what might be an ineffective blast.
(14) Ice Body: Incredible package of immunities, plus Earth Glide for snow and ice at minutes per level. If you could go ahead and rank this spell blue, that’d be greeeat...
(16) Polar Ray: No save, good damage, DEX drain. It’s the single-target older brother of cone of cold.
(18) Mass Icy Prison: A very, very quick way to turn your opponent’s TP-Slay into a TPK. Too cheesy? Ah, I thought so. At any rate, mass icy prison will simply wreck encounters. The median Reflex save at CR 18 is +14, compared with +17 Will and +21 Fortitude. With a CHA modifier of +12 or +13 (very doable at this level) you’re looking at a save DC of 31-32, which enemies will only succeed on with a Nat 17, 18, or higher. Even though insane STR scores mean you likely won’t hold enemies for long, a round or two of delay at this level means death. High levels play for keeps.
Revelations
(1) Child of Winter: Great for Reign of Winter, and mostly worthless elsewhere.
(1) Cold Aura: Cold Aura is better used as a defensive concealment power rather than a PBAoE nuke. Concealment grants a 20% miss chance and the opportunity to make a Stealth check for a potent “I’m pinned down by an enemy and can’t escape” power.
(1) Freezing Spells: See, the Waves Mystery didn’t really have the spell list to take advantage of Freezing Spells. You do. Frost fall, ice storm, cone of cold, and polar ray all qualify, so get to debuffing. This Revelation will start to make your sleet storm + ice storm combo really, really deadly.
(1) Ice Armor: I think I can reasonably assume that you’re not using the Winter Mystery in a Legacy of Fire or Mummy’s Mask campaign, so chances are good this Revelation functions as any other armor Revelation. If you happen to travel to Irrisen, good for you, your AC just went up.
(1) Ice Shape: There’s quite a bit of latitude to get creative here, so long as you remember that the amount of material altered by stone shape isn’t that great. It’s good for erecting shelters, throwing up temporary barriers, etc. The rating is obviously founded on the assumption that you’re around snow and ice much of the time.
(1) Icy Skin: Cold damage isn’t uncommon. About as good as the other energy resistance Revelations.
(1) Snow Sight: Worth it for the visibility bonuses alone. You’ll be creating a lot of areas of limited visibility between sleet storm and Blizzard, and you’d ideally like to see through them in order to keep hammering away. Commune with nature is just a nice bonus.
(1) Wintry Touch: There’s always one turd in the picnic basket, as my grandpa used to say, and this is Winter’s turd.
(7) Servant of Winter: Ice Elementals are pretty cool—the Numbing Cold ability they have is particularly good for harassing casters and making sure they can’t threaten your party effectively. I say go for it! You don’t get to summon Elder Elementals all that often.
(11) Blizzard: Huck a Blizzard in with your sleet storm and ice storm, and you’ve got a ballgame.
Role
Ah, poor Wood Mystery. There’s just not a lot of meat here, you know? You’re looking for something you can sink your teeth into, and there’s not much. Wood Bond and Wood Armor are the obvious 1st- and 3rd-level Revelation choices to get your offense and defense going, and shillelagh and barkskin pair nicely; melee builds barely edge out ranged builds in these levels as shillelagh mimics the damage dice of a greatsword. But where do you go after that? You’ve peaked at 4th level, with your best spells and Revelations behind you. You get decent mobility and scouting powers like tree stride in later levels, but the stark restriction to wooded areas makes those powers hard to parlay into combat effectiveness. Wood Oracles are Combat Oracles, if anything, but they don’t play the role as well as Battle, Dragon, Metal, or even Elemental Oracles can.
Melee, Ranged > Debuffing, Recon, Tank, Utility > Anticaster, Blasting, Control, Skills, Summoning, Support
Bonus Skills
If you’re going to play as a woodland guerilla, you obviously need Stealth, and Climb is an okay one-rank wonder for making it up into the canopies. Knowledge (Nature) and Survival round out the Druid cosplay.
Bonus Spells
(2) Shillelagh: The spell unfortunately targets only non-magical or masterwork clubs and quarterstaffs; I say unfortunately because it’s basically a souped-up lead blades, which is already one of the best spells in the game for melee characters. Thrash away, and always keep a masterwork quarterstaff on hand for emergency situations.
(4) Barkskin: Conflicts with amulets of natural armor, but is otherwise a solid, solid defensive buff that will serve you well all through your career.
(6) Minor Creation: Minor creation is definitely versatile: create doors, stairs, shields, ladders, sleds, snowshoes, oars, chairs, arrows...I could go on. This will be your stopgap for any mundane wooden item you need.
(8) Thorn Body: The damage actually scales to fairly high levels, but the trade-off is you need to get slapped in order to deal it. It just doesn’t feel like a 4th-level spell to me.
(10) Tree Stride: Pretty good teleportation spell, and at this level, you can move 2-6 miles in a single casting. Good for scouting and spying, since you don’t need to exit the tree.
(12) Ironwood: It’s useful to Druids so that they can craft their own weapons and armor...for you, without the restrictions on metal armor, it’s not useful at all.
(14) Transmute Metal to Wood: Even if you’re fighting enemies that use manufactured arms and armor, you’re destroying your own loot! Ner ner ner. If you needed more reasons to hate it, the debuff is incredibly minor for a 7th-level spell.
(16) Changestaff: Summons are always good.
(18) Wooden Phalanx: Golems and Constructs generally make amazing summons, and wooden phalanx gives you a lot of them. Enjoy.
Revelations
(1) Bend the Grain: Warp wood and wood shape are both good, versatile spells. Not many uses per day, but it is what it is.
(1) Thorn Burst: A little worse than the Cold Aura Revelation from Winter because it actively hinders your movement out of what could be a very dangerous area.
(1) Wood Armor: The usual armor Revelation.
(1) Wood Bond: This is like having constant Inspire Courage up (at least for attack rolls, not damage) that scales with your level. An easy pick for a Wood Oracle.
(1) Wood Sight: Concealment due to foliage just doesn’t come up that much.
(1) Wooden Weapon: Much like Iron Weapon from the Metal Mystery, Wooden Weapon is eminently skippable. The enhancement bonuses scale too slowly to beat a weapon you’re investing money in, so the Revelation only comes into its own if you get Disarmed, Sundered, etc.
(1) Tree Form: You can pick up DR, energy resistances, regeneration, and a bunch of other goodies in plant shape. Of course, you also lose the ability to cast spells while in plant form, so that will be a dealbreaker for many.
(1) Woodland Stride: As with Wood Sight, natural entanglement in undergrowth doesn’t come up often enough to be worthwhile. Why can’t they give you magical entanglement to at least help you beat those accursed walls of thorns?
(11) Lignification: Good save-or-suck, but at this level Fortitude just isn’t cutting it most of the time.
(11) Speak With Wood: “You can talk to wood and learn what it knows. You must spend one minute meditating on and communing with the wood.” 0_o Innuendo of “communing with the wood” aside, asking questions to wooden objects is often revealing. Ask the door, “Who was the last person to open you?” Ask the table, “What kinds of documents or weapons have been placed on you recently?” Ask the bow, “Who is the person who wields you most often?” All kinds of fun stuff you can learn when you’re a wood-whisperer.
“You didn’t come here to make the choice. You’ve already made it.
You’re here to understand why you made it.”
— The Oracle, The Matrix Reloaded
In return for the awesome gifts provided by their Mysteries, Oracles also suffer from Curses: terrible afflictions cast upon them by the gods, unnamed forces of the cosmos, or simply the weight of their own Sight. Some are whimsical, some are mechanically crippling, and some won’t be much more than a speed bump for a well-built character. As I mentioned in the class intro, I’m a huge fan of Curses. Most of the time, when we build characters in a TTRPG, we have to work to incorporate flaws or weaknesses that both maintain in-game effectiveness and allow us to have nuanced, three-dimensional personalities. The Oracle does that work for you. Full casting is already incredibly powerful, and Mysteries can convert the class into just about any other role you might want. All Curses add is some depth! A number of races have a favored class bonus that progresses your Curse faster, and it’s gratifying to watch your weakness gradually turn into a strength as the levels roll by. Of note, Curses continue to progress, albeit more slowly, when PCs multiclass! Cool stuff.
As far as our mechanical goals with Curses go, we’re trying to hit that sweet spot between good benefits as the Curse progresses and not-too-crushing limitations imposed, all while maintaining some connection to the character’s backstory. I’ll therefore be ranking each Curse based on two parameters: how good the Benefit is, and how crippling the Drawback is. Together we’ll try to find the cream of the crop, eh?
Aboleth
Benefit: Charm person and minor image are probably the only universally useful spells on this list; the others are situational or come too late to be of benefit for most of the campaign.
Drawback: Let me clear: [mind-affecting] spells are the very worst that a PC can be subjected to, featuring hard-hitting debuffs if you’re lucky and out-and-out domination if you’re not. You’ve got a good Will save progression, but there’s every chance WIS will be a dump stat in your build. Don’t get cocky, kid: you’re no Paladin.
Accursed
Benefit: Ill omen is absolutely a top-shelf debuffing spell, but greater brand won’t give you much of anything—Fortitude saves are too high, and the spell level too low, to make it effective by the time you get access. The buff against curses is quite nice! They may not be common, but damn it all if they’re not hideously burdensome when they happen.
Drawback: You’ve got some good (Morale) bonuses on your list, including bless, instrument of agony, and moment of greatness. It’d be a shame not to benefit from those personally, but not too crippling.
Blackened
Benefit: The spells here add some blasting potential to the otherwise buff- and debuff-focused Cleric spell list, and let non-Blasting Mysteries put a few tools in the toolbox without going whole hog. Burning hands, flaming sphere, and the others have good utility against swarms, which can be especially troublesome at early levels. Wall of fire is a wonderful battlefield control spell, and one of the primary reasons why you’d want to rush to 10th level. A good candidate for races that advance Curse levels as their FCB.
Drawback: Wow, what a drawback. Not every Oracle will want to make combat a staple of their diet, but now you honestly can’t, even to take an opportunistic attack with a dagger or something. The lack of a combat cantrip like ray of frost on your list hurts even more. Maybe something like the quarterstaff of entwined serpents?
Clouded Vision
Benefit: Many races have innate Darkvision, so the benefits here aren’t anything special. Blindsight is wonderful, but comes far too late.
Drawback: Woof. You never know how much you rely on normal vision until it’s gone, eh? Clouded Vision will actively and severely hamper your combat effectiveness. Can’t recommend it.
Cold-Blooded
Benefit: Strange grab-bag here. The eating thing is irrelevant; poisons are less troublesome to you with neutralize poison on your spell list than they would be to other characters; the move actions gained at 10th and 15th levels are exceedingly good.
Drawback: Cold damage often comes attached to blasts like cone of cold, etc. You can plan and compensate for this weakness: go heavy on the resist energy and protection from energy spells if you think there’s even a chance that you’re facing an enemy that can deal cold damage. Obviously you won’t want this Curse in a campaign like Reign of Winter, but you might never even notice its drawbacks in campaigns like Legacy of Fire.
Consumed
Benefit: Automatic stabilization is pretty nice, especially for a class that won’t have quite as much CON as others. Rolling twice against poisons and diseases is excellent, because again, poor Fortitude save. Eating and drinking is fluff. I wish you got access to the temp HP portion of the Curse faster, as it’s a really nice way to build up a buffer against stray hits. Another good candidate for faster progression via racial FCBs.
Drawback: Hmmm. On the one hand, taking some amount of nonlethal damage makes falling unconscious that much less dangerous, as enemies will tend to assume that you’re down for the count and focus on other combatants (unless your GM is coup de grace-happy!). On the other hand, you’ll be out of the fight 50% faster if you ever take any damage. Frontline Mysteries like Battle, Mystery, and Dragon will want to stay away, whereas those with backline support or debuffing roles can probably get by with minimal inconvenience.
Covetous
Benefit: The best elements of the Curse are the bonuses to Use Magic Device, which will give you at least a +7 buff to steal other classes’ spells, and the addition of fabricate to your spells known. Fabricate be good.
Drawback: Wearing fancy clothes is the epitome of an easily ignored drawback. Even if you do get something stolen from you, sickened isn’t the worst thing that could happen to you.
Special Synergy: ...and if you’re going Dual-Cursed, you can avoid the sickened condition entirely! Plagued or Wasting will both work, although you’ll need to advance Wasting, not Covetous, if you want to get the sickened immunity.
Deaf
Benefit: Free Silent Spell metamagic, and extravisual senses later on. I mean, that’s a win for me.
Drawback: With constant Silent Spell metamagic, the deafened condition isn’t so bad. The main problem is the initiative, which can be completely ameliorated with Improved Initiative and eventually scales to only a -2 penalty. As with most drawbacks, I think there’s a fairly easy way to compensate for Deaf’s inconveniences. Make sure your party picks up some kind of hand signaling, and get ready not to be the party face.
Special Synergy: Dual-Cursed Oracles who take the Deaf and Wolfscarred Curses can completely negate the 20% spell failure chance imposed by Wolfscarred. It’s kinda cheesy, but powerful.
Deep One
Benefit: Great benefits for an aquatic campaign like Ruins of Azlant. Having a Swim speed is plenty good even in campaigns where you expect to run into water only once in a while—getting grappled or pulled underwater is a really, really easy way to die.
Drawback: Losing 5 feet of movement speed is incredibly manageable. Longstrider, expeditious retreat, the Fleet feat...tons of ways to fix this.
Demonic
Benefit: Immunity to poison is the best of the lot. The rest of it doesn’t do much for me.
Drawback: Way too many restrictions here. This Curse is thematic for an Outer Rifts Oracle, but isn’t mechanically good.
Elemental Imbalance
Benefit: Some good spells here, depending on your choice of element.
Drawback: Unlike the Cold-Blooded Curse that can be compensated for with judicious use of resist energy, etc., Elemental Imbalance stipulates that you cannot benefit from resistance effects. Ask your GM whether protection from energy still counts—that spell will be your best friend if it’s allowed. Losing spells is meddlesome, but not egregious.
Ghoul
Benefit: Minor, minor bonuses.
Drawback: /u/OneWishes points out that you don’t actually need to devour the flesh of sentient creatures—only if you want the save bonuses. It’s still going to be hard in any party you don’t want to freak out miserably.
God-Meddled
Benefit: Bonuses to saves never hurt anyone, although I wish they were slightly higher and scaled slightly faster.
Drawback: Rolls of 8-20 result in solid benefits for you, but 1-7 can get pretty bad. Still, divine casters don’t come along in every encounter, so you might only trigger this ability once or twice in a week of adventuring.
Haunted
Benefit: Great illusion and battlefield control spells, and you get quite a few of them. I’m in!
Drawback: These drawbacks are bigger than you think: players usually pull things from their packs in dire circumstances, to chug a potion of cure serious wounds or get out that wand of invisibility. Think twice about how often these effects may happen before you select the Curse.
Hellbound
Benefit: Immunity to fire and improved saves vs. charm effects are pretty cool.
Drawback: Once again, you’re not likely to be the party face, but you’re plenty good at feinting and demoralizing. Certain Oracle builds might be absolutely fine with that trade.
Hive
Benefit: Weak effects. Bleh.
Drawback: Once again, absolutely not going to be the party face with this Curse. Avoid the Nature Mystery, too—it revolves too much around Handle Animal and Ride checks.
Hunger
Benefit: Fits thematically with certain Mysteries like Dragon or Lunar, and is one of the best Curse benefits for a natural attack build. Of little use to others.
Drawback: Between the sickened condition and the loss of healing and nourishment spells, you’re looking at a pretty bad package unless you intend to get up in melee and bite someone in a hurry. Meant for melee-focused Oracles.
Special Synergy: Dual-Cursed Oracles can avoid the sickened condition entirely if they select the Plagued or Wasting Curses to go with Hunger. I’d suggest Plagued, as it keeps your natural attack scaling nicely while also offsetting the sickened condition entirely.
Infested
Benefit: You’ll be a boss against swarms, obviously, but the benefits don’t carry over to other enemy types all that well.
Drawback: And now everyone finds you repulsive! Get out of here, you creep. I think it’s gross, personally, but it would work mechanically as long as the party hid you out of sight every time they spoke with someone.
Lame
Benefit: Hmmm. Rage-cycling Barbarians would love to get immunity to fatigue this quickly; it’s not all that beneficial to you, however.
Drawback: That’s pretty slow. As soon as you get access to a flight Revelation, though, you might as well not have this Curse. Something to consider if you’re a Wind Oracle, I guess.
Legalistic
Benefit: Decent benefits for a party face. The 15th-level power is really cool, if you can somehow trigger it.
Drawback: Just avoid making promises! Easy enough.
Special Synergy: Dual-Cursed Oracles can avoid the sickened condition entirely if they select the Plagued or Wasting Curses to go with Legalistic. Plagued works if you want to advance Legalistic, or Wasting works if you want to advance Wasting.
Lich
Benefit: Immunity to death effects is a big deal at high levels, and the undead anatomy spells aren’t exactly slouches. You can even get stuff like Pounce in here, if you select your polymorphed form correctly.
Drawback: So long as you don’t have an allied Cleric without Selective Channeling, you’re more than golden—enemy Clerics and Antipaladins will probably wind up healing you! Grab yourself a wand of inflict light wounds so that you can heal as everyone else does.
Lycanthropy
Benefit: Charm animal gets you a free, disposable animal companion (sorry, SPCA) while animal messenger and the various beast shape spells are good for long-range communication and polymorphing respectively.
Drawback: Not being able to communicate in battle is pretty rough. There are ways around it, but not common ones. Speak with animals isn’t a spell that most casters will want to have prepared on a daily basis.
Plagued
Benefit: Immunity to the sickened condition is right nice! Pox pustules isn’t a bad spell, either, although Fortitude save-based spells get less and less useful as levels roll by.
Drawback: Really? A -1 penalty on saves against disease is all? Sure, I’ll take it.
Special Synergy: The main penalties imposed by the Covetous, Hunger, and Legalistic Curses are the sickened condition. Dual-Cursed Oracles can select Plagued as their non-advancing Curse, then pick up one of the others as their advancing Curse with little to no downside.
Possessed
Benefit: Free rerolls on possession and compulsion effects are enticing indeed, and possession/greater object possession may be some of the best, most versatile spells in the game.
Drawback: The downside to all those good defenses against possession and all those great spells is that you kind of suck at casting while threatened. You might consider both the Combat Casting and Warrior Priest feats to alleviate the defensive casting penalties.
Powerless Prophecy
Benefit: Rocket tag gets to be a quantifiable thing at higher levels, and unless you have the War Sight Revelation from Battle, there will be times that enemies get to act first. Losing out on, at most, one standard or move action isn’t much compared to the defensive bonuses you’re getting here—Uncanny Dodge and the Improved version are wonderful full-time bonuses, and even the stuff that applies only to surprise rounds is very strong.
Drawback: As I mentioned above, all Powerless Prophecy does is take away a single standard or move action from you in the surprise round or first round of combat. As most Oracles will cast a spell as their first action in combat, this constraint usually puts you at no real disadvantage apart from being unable to move closer to the action right away.
Pranked
Benefit: All of the spells you get access to are pretty amazing Illusion and anticaster tools. Solid, solid work.
Drawback: ...but man, what a downside. A huge penalty to initiative rolls ensures that you won’t get to alpha strike with all your Illusion and anticaster tools, and any GM worth their salt will probably make social life miserable for you by having your Fey pranksters make it look and sound like you just shat your pants. Not to mention the potential to fail at critical “I need to drink a potion, and I need to drink it right now” moments. Rough.
Promethean
Benefit: Ability damage is incredibly frustrating, but it’s not quite as big a deal for you as it is for other classes, thanks to the restoration suite of spells that you get on your spell list. Obviously, it’s best not to take that damage at all if you can help it!
Drawback: Ability damage heals at a rate of one point per day, so realistically, all we’re talking about here is a more or less permanent -1 penalty to CON. Even so, ability damage doesn’t affect characters until they’ve taken at least two points, so we’re not even looking at a poorer Fortitude save or anything unless you run into an exotic poison or other source of CON damage in the course of your adventuring day. (Thanks, /u/gameronice, for reminding me of the ability damage rules!)
Putrid
Benefit: The Curse confers no real benefit to you (other than eliminating your own penalties) until 10th level. Even then, Fortitude saves are bad, bad, bad. DR 10/— is wonderful, but even with FCBs you can’t get to it until 10th level, or 15th without. The juice here isn’t worth the squeeze.
Drawback: It’s more nuisance than hindrance: if you camp at a slight distance from ponds or oases and don’t carry any potions on you until 5th level, you’ll be fine.
Reclusive
Benefit: All the benefits on this list are laughably, ridiculously good, especially for melee magehunters like Lunar and Dragon Oracles who want to become even more terrifying.
Drawback: Am I weird for thinking that this drawback isn’t actually as bad as it seems? Melee touch attacks are pretty easy to make against Oracles, and you’re bound to fail saves sometimes, leading to only partial blockage of team buffs. So long as your team understands that you primarily buff yourself, and they don’t have to, you gain a whole lot of self-sufficiency.
Scourge
Benefit: Some decent spells here at high levels, but feast of ashes and Woodland Stride don’t do much for you.
Drawback: The terrain obstacles and aberrations will likely become annoying rather than dangerous at higher levels, but man, as a GM, I would hate to have to work this out every time the PCs stopped in one place for more than 10 minutes. Not to mention you could endanger cities and other settlements with it.
Shadowbound
Benefit: Many races already have darkvision, and Shadowbound obviously won’t be for them. The spells you gain are wonderful; I can’t help but feel, however, that if you’re interested in this flavor you should just play a Shadow Oracle. They’re so good anyway.
Drawback: There’s a wondrous item, the lenses of darkness, that can completely negate this curse without taking up a necessary item slot like the shoulder or headband slot. That’s 12,000 gp, though—definitely out of reach until at least 8th or 9th level—and blindness is a hell of a condition until you can buy it. Protective penumbra, a 2nd-level spell, will also get the job done, but again, precious resource that only lasts 10 minutes/level. Hard to recommend.
Shattered Psyche
Benefit: [Mind-affecting] spells are 100% the worst, and fully capable of tearing your team apart. The Tarrasque itself has a DC 27 Frightful Presence power that you’re now out-and-out immune to. Enjoy that.
Drawback: The worst clause here is the penalty to concentration checks, although this can be remedied with Combat Casting or Warrior Priest. Penalties to WIS- and INT-based skill checks won’t work for Mysteries like Lore, but it might be irrelevant to other Mysteries. Not too bad!
Site-Bound
Benefit: NPC Curse.
Drawback: NPC Curse. Even Oracles playing in urban campaigns will need to move beyond a few hundred feet.
Song-Bound
Benefit: Countersong is definitely one of the weakest Bardic Performances; the other spells are okay, though.
Drawback: It’s Merfolk-only, so only usable in...Book 4 of Ruins of Azlant? Dunno. Even if you managed to shoehorn a Merfolk into a regular campaign, being compelled to sing loudly anytime you want to communicate will definitely make life difficult for your team.
Tongues
Benefit: A few bonus languages? That’s it?
Drawback: Very unobtrusive drawback: just have your team take a single rank in Linguistics to understand your Tongues language.
Toxic Blood
Benefit: It’s interesting that you can deliver your poison together with an unarmed strike or natural attack—makes it interesting for Dragon, Lunar, Ascetic Oracles, etc. Unfortunately, Fortitude saves get monumentally high with level, and even the scaling DC can’t really help with that.
Drawback: Fortunately, poisons aren’t an everyday occurrence. Unfortunately, any poisons you do come across are bound to almost kill you, between the rerolls, extra required saves, and immunity to neutralize and delay poison.
Vampirism
Benefit: Channel Resistance, meh. Vampiric touch, double meh. DR 5/Magic that absolutely everything will penetrate, triple meh.
Drawback: As good as the drawback in the Lich Curse, but with a terrible benefit.
Wasting
Benefit: Plenty of good immunities here. I like what I see.
Drawback: Just don’t be the party face! Simple.
Special Synergy: If you’re okay dealing with the penalties imposed by the Covetous, Hunger, and Legalistic Curses for a few levels, Wasting confers even better benefits than Plagued.
Wolfscarred Face
Benefit: Good stuff for natural attack and other melee builds, but casting builds won’t want any chance to whiff on their spells.
Drawback: The downside is dramatic unless you’ve got the Deaf Curse.
Special Synergy: Usual synergy with the Deaf Curse for Dual-Cursed Oracles, negating all spell failure chances.
Wrecker
Benefit: Most of the benefits here would be best for a Sunder user. Oracles aren’t that, and none of the Mysteries (apart from Apocalypse, and you don’t want to play Apocalypse) provide any Sunder synergy.
Drawback: You’ll go around breaking your own armor and weapons. That might not be all that bad if you’re relying on armor Revelations, but for everyone else, that’s a big deal.
Wrecking Mysticism
Benefit: Magical Tail starts to ramp up quickly, not to mention Kitsune make excellent Oracles. If you’re interested in playing an Illusionist or Enchanter, here’s a good Curse to start with.
Drawback: These are some pretty bad conditions to get extended; a Dual-Cursed Oracle with the Wasting Curse could negate the sickened and nauseated conditions eventually, but then you’d lose the opportunity to get a Magical Tail spell until 8th level. I think it’s best just to take a Mystery with good Revelations and bad spells, then replace the worst of the worst with Magical Tail.
An age-old debate has raged on PF and 3.5e forums about whether spontaneous or prepared casting is better. There are arguments on both sides: spontaneous casters get more spells per day, but gain access to new spell levels more slowly. Prepared casters can afford to bring niche spells into the mix, but spontaneous casters aren’t limited if they need to cast one crucial spell over and over. Spontaneous casters take a full round action to cast Metamagic-enhanced spells, but prepared casters need to choose their Metamagic in advance. We could go around and around forever. Oracles have full casting progressions, however, and that’s more than enough for our purposes: so long as your Spell Save DCs scale well and your CL progresses smoothly from 1-20, there’s no need to split hairs.
Spontaneous casting does bring with it some constraints, namely that it is perpetually limited by what spells the caster knows. Having access on the spell list isn’t good enough—you need to spend a resource to learn new spells, and you’ll only ever know a few at any given spell level. So Oracles need to ask themselves: will this spell be useful to me every day? Will the spell work consistently across many enemy types, with many configurations of saves and abilities, across many levels? What are my “desert island” spells? Only the best of the best should pass muster for spontaneous casters. Now, you are a CHA-based caster, and high CHA scores mean high levels of proficiency with the Use Magic Device skill, which allows you to use scrolls and wands from other classes, the trade-off being, of course, that scrolls and wands cut into your precious wealth by level. Nevertheless, scroll and wand use is part and parcel with spontaneous casting, so a table of scroll and wand costs is included below; spells that are ideal candidates for scrolls or wands will be highlighted in black. Our calculus will favor scrolls and wands for out-of-combat applications, where they’re the least dangerous to use, and spells for in-combat applications.
Spell Level & Minimum Oracle Level | Scroll (Spell Level x Caster Level x 25 gp) | Wand (Spell Level x Caster Level x 750 gp) |
Orisons (0th-Level) at 1st Level | 12.5 gp | 375 gp |
1st-Level Spells at 1st Level | 25 gp | 750 gp |
2nd-Level Spells at 4th Level | 150 gp | 4,500 gp |
3rd-Level Spells at 6th Level | 375 gp | 11,250 gp |
4th-Level Spells at 8th Level | 700 gp | 21,000 gp |
5th-Level Spells at 10th Level | 1,125 gp | — |
6th-Level Spells at 12th Level | 1,650 gp | — |
7th-Level Spells at 14th Level | 2,275 gp | — |
8th-Level Spells at 16th Level | 3,000 gp | — |
9th-Level Spells at 18th Level | 3,825 gp | — |
Detect Magic: Perennial as the grass, this one.
Guidance: Competence bonus. Sure, the buff is small, but it's versatile and free.
Resistance: Resistance bonus. With Cloaks of Resistance, this cantrip’s shelf life is extraordinarily limited. Powerful in early levels, though.
Enhanced Diplomacy: Competence bonus. It’s small, and the bonus type is common. Still, always nice to have, especially at low levels.
Grasp: Might just save your life!
Light: If you're human you'll need this anyway, but there are some fun tricks you can pull with light even if you've got Darkvision: cast it on a pebble, then toss it into a room; cast it on an arrow to make a distracting shooting star; see to the bottom of a pit. Applications are limitless for the creative.
Mending: You’ll need this in case of Sundering.
Spark: Decent little cantrip for creating small fires and general quality of life.
Stabilize: Sometimes you can’t reach an unconscious and dying teammate in the heat of battle. It’s nice to be able to prevent them from bleeding out while you handle business.
Vigor: Competence bonus. Melee damage buff within one minute? As with guidance, it’s small, but it’s free.
Create Water: Situationally useful.
Detect Fiendish Presence: Evil Outsiders and their servitors don’t appear all that often, but this spell could be quite useful in a campaign like Hell’s Rebels or Wrath of the Righteous.
Detect Poison: Situational.
Purify Food & Drink: Poisoned or diseased food isn’t likely to come up that much.
Read Magic: Your Spellcraft skill probably won’t be high. Read magic might be worth it to avoid those scroll deciphering checks.
Scrivener’s Chant: Of greatest use for stealing documents, creating forgeries, and other intrigue-heavy uses, scrivener’s chant won’t see much everyday use.
Sotto Voce: You’ve got a good CHA score—why wouldn’t you just demoralize?
Bleed: Weak effect, when you could just hit them again.
Sign of the Dawnflower: Even if you worship Sarenrae, how often will you have to transmit whispered messages to other worshipers of Sarenrae?
Virtue: A standard action to grant one temporary HP. Nooope.
Bless: Morale bonus. Attack roll bonuses never go out of style! Minor, yet significant buff, especially at lower levels.
Divine Favor: Luck bonus. Excellent for combat-focused Oracles, divine favor loses efficacy if you intend not to hit people with things.
Hedging Weapons: Cast defensively, it’s a scaling Deflection bonus to your AC. We love those, don’t we? Plus, the weapons can be used to deal pretty decent force damage, which we love for killing incorporeal ghosties. Note that damage remains at 2d6 no matter what the weapon is, but the threat range and critical modifier are ported over from the weapon. Time to go 2d6 crit fishing!
Obscuring Mist: Obscuring mist is a classic battlefield control spell, shutting down line of sight and forcing casters or ranged characters to move out of optimal positions. Enemies will eventually have methods of dealing with your mist, but any spells or abilities they expend to do so are spells and abilities that they don’t use on worse stuff for you. Great all around.
Protection from [Alignment]: Although protection from evil will see the most use in a majority of campaigns, Law and Chaos can be useful, too. You’re getting good defensive bonuses, excellent resistance to mind-control effects, and protection from summoned monsters. No downside here!
Summon Monster I: Summoning breaks the action economy and isn’t dependent on your casting stat, so it’s an excellent choice regardless of your Oracle build. You’ll probably want the top three levels or so of summon monster that you can get, then retrain lower instances. Not like summon monster I is going to do you any good at 16th level unless you’re popping out Reggie the Celestial Dolphin to provide a comrade soft cover as they run away from an enemy with reach.
Bane: An oldie but a goodie, bane is the classic 1st-level AoE debuff. Save negates and SR applies, but you’re still bound to tag a couple of bad guys with it.
Barbed Chains: With multiple Trip attempts and a good chance to debuff, barbed chains is quite the gem for early levels. As BAB and Will saves diverge in later levels, it drops off somewhat in utility. Keep in mind that it’s an emotion, fear, and mind-affecting effect.
Brightest Night: Better vision for everyone, regardless of race, and demonstrably better accuracy in dim light conditions. No downside here!
Detect [Alignment]: Detect evil will be the go-to pick in most scenarios, so get that if you get any spells in the suite.
Entropic Shield: One thing Oracles are not flush with is hit points, so shrugging off any damage is a huge perk. No need to have it running long-term, only in combats with ranged enemies.
Face of the Devourer: Circumstance bonus. Good bonuses for Intimidate that stack well with other bonus types, plus a decent natural attack, for minutes per level. All systems are go for a good spell! You can cast this on yourself, if you’re a combat-focused Oracle, or else on the party frontliner if you’re not.
Fallback Strategy: It’s a spell that’s associated with Torag, but you can pick it up, too. And what a spell it is! Most Oracles will want it for the ability to flexibly reroll a skill check; however, it’s even better for combat-focused Oracles, allowing you to reroll a fumble or similar scenario.
Infernal Healing: Especially with Extend Spell metamagic, it’s some of the most efficient healing you can get. Why can’t celestial healing just give you the full minute out of the gate?
Liberating Command: Competence bonus. Getting grappled is a quick and very one-way ticket to an early demise in many cases, with Swallow Whole, Constrict, and other nasty (Ex) abilities tagged on. Escape Artist won’t be universally useful, but it will at least protect the squishier members of the party, who likely invested in non-CMB/CMD methods of getting out of sticky situations. And it’s an immediate action! So thoughtful.
Lucky Number: Luck bonus. Flexible and mechanically interesting.
Magic Weapon: Good for bypassing early DR, but it’ll fall out of favor pretty quickly after +1 weapons become commonplace. Retrain it if you get it.
Marid’s Mastery: Undine only. There’s a Will save to negate, but if they fail, they’re taking a -4 penalty on attack and damage rolls—pretty crippling if there’s no water around.
Moment of Greatness: MoG really comes into its own when you’ve got a dedicated Morale bonus specialist: Bards, Cavaliers, the like. Being able to go nova on the bonus is a pretty cool ability.
Murderous Command: Big bruisers tend to have excellent Fortitude saves, but poor Will saves...and you’re going to exploit that to the hilt. Best cast when that big bruiser is within five feet of his squishiest ally. Do note that only living targets are affected, so no Constructs or Undead.
Remove Fear: Fear effects cause debuffs, at the very least, and possible losses of DPR as teammates run away or cower. Why not just say, “No thanks”?
Remove Sickness: As above.
Shadow Trap: Entangled is generally a good condition, and you get an improved version of it! The real perk here is that enemies have to make a no-win choice about whether to remain entangled and debuffed, or spend a full-round action to attempt a new save. While they’re doing that, you’re killing them, and they’re not killing you. We like that.
Shield of Faith: Deflection bonus. Classic buffing spell, though of course Deflection bonuses from different sources don’t stack.
Stone Shield: Oread only. Gemsoul Oreads make great Oracles, and this is a peach of a spell. An immediate action shield is amazing if a bruiser makes it to the back line.
Strand of the Tangled Knot: You only get to debuff one attack, but what a debuff. At later levels, when 1st-level spells are cheap, you can afford to toss this on at the start of a fight as a contingency if someone gets to you.
Sure Casting: The odd 1st-level spell that gets more useful the higher level you are, sure casting is kind of like true strike for CL checks to overcome spell resistance. And you want that, Sam I Am!
Touch of Bloodletting: It’s got some Zon-Kuthon flavor, but nevertheless, exhausted is a pretty rough debuff at 1st level.
Weaponwand: Combat-focused Oracles especially don’t have free hands to be giving to wands, so why not turn your weapon into a wand repository? Saves on the action economy, which is the best buff to get.
Aspect of the Nightingale: Charm spells can be killer, hence getting free rerolls to resist them is amazing. Bonuses to Diplomacy and Perform are fluff.
Blend With Surroundings: Good for setting up ambushes.
Bless Water: Holy water will always be useful for killing incorporeal Undead at low levels. If you decide to learn it, you could lose it after a few levels.
Blessed Fist: Of use only to Oracles of the Ascetic Mystery, who specialize in unarmed strikes. You’re gonna want that sweet DR/Alignment penetration and boost to hit and damage. No other Oracles should invest.
Burning Disarm: You might get lucky with either fire damage or a Disarm in early levels. Beyond that, unlikely.
Cause Fear: Hard pass after 6 HD, but at lower levels you get a debuff even on a successful save. Grab it for a good debuff in Books 1 and 2, then retrain later.
Clarion Call: Subtle it isn’t, but clarion call can still give you good communication abilities. GMs might even be willing to grant a small circumstance bonus to Intimidate checks, or something similar.
Coward’s Cowl: It’s a buff? A cowardly buff? It’s decent enough for casters and archers, but the bonus isn’t too exciting. It’ll get retrained later even if you do select it at low levels.
Decompose Corpse: The spell text seems to imply that corporeal undead get no save, which is actually pretty good, considering the debuff applies to absolutely everything.
Detect Demon: You’ll know if you’re in a campaign that could make regular use of this spell.
Detect Undead: As detect demon, but somewhat more common.
Egorian Diplomacy: Intimidate can have unfortunate consequences if used incorrectly, which is why Diplomacy is generally the better skill out of combat. If you’ve got to speak softly and carry a large stick, though, make sure your target can’t remember you’re carrying the stick.
Endure Elements: Paizo loves its environmental hazards, and even high-level characters can’t ignore constantly ticking nonlethal damage from cold or heat. Grab a wand if you don’t think you’ll be venturing out into the wilderness often.
Enhance Water: Congrats, your miracle repertoire is now a significant percentage of Jesus Christ’s. Excellent for making friends in a pinch.
Fastidiousness: Circumstance bonus. Your Fortitude save isn’t great, and there are some other QoL improvements in the package. Not gamechanging, but also not shabby.
Firebelly: Your first real brush with energy resistance isn’t terrible. Don’t use that breath weapon for blasting, though—it’s strictly for stopping regeneration or fast healing on enemies.
Ironbloom Sprouts: “Mushrooms!” Another potential source of healing in campaigns that isn’t terribly difficult to achieve.
Know the Enemy: Insight bonus. The spell is retroactive, which is a bit of a funny way of going about things. Useful only if you’re consistently fighting the same kind of enemy, but don’t know much about them yet.
Murderous Crow: Orc only. Powerful at early levels, but doesn’t scale at all.
Peasant Armaments: Kill the Beast! I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Milani, and this spell actually does decent work getting a horde of people armed and ready for combat. Obviously, it’s a little dependent on how many armed insurrections you’re planning on fomenting.
Restore Corpse: Bones Oracles might be interested, but no one else.
Sanctify Corpse: Only useful if you’re playing a game where enemy necromancy is a going concern.
Shield Speech: Of some use in intrigue campaigns.
Tap Inner Beauty: Insight bonus. Some bonuses to skills you’ll be using a lot anyway.
Unhallowed Blows: For Bones Oracles only. No one else. Go on, git.
Unwelcome Halo: Helps negate some common caster and Outsider tactics.
Abadar’s Truthtelling: Friends of the Master of the First Vault get zone of truth a level early. It won’t be necessary every day, but is nice to have in interrogations.
Air Bubble: A scroll will suffice for the occasional aquatic jaunt.
Ant Haul: Decent enough spell for looting bodies prior to the advent of Handy Haversacks or the like. A scroll of this spell or its big communal brother will do.
Carrion Compass: Trackin’ down necromancers like a boss. Won’t be relevant much of the time, but in some campaigns a scroll might be nice.
Cloak of Secrets: Intrigue campaigns will want a scroll or two.
Comprehend Languages: Good stopgap until you get tongues.
Cure Light Wounds: You want wands, wands, and more wands of cure light wounds. If you can afford the spell known, go ahead and grab it—you can always burn any extra spells at the end of the day.
Detect Charm: GMs and pre-written campaigns sometimes like to throw charmed or dominated creatures at you, and you might not see the snake in the grass until it’s too late. Go ahead and see that snake!
Diagnose Disease: A scroll’s fine.
Funereal Weapon: Grab a scroll in case you run across some mean Undead.
Guardian Armor: Maybe, maybe a scroll in case you get ambushed in the night and need to get your frontliner up and running faster. Otherwise, far too niche.
Hairline Fractures: It’s not quite as good as Erosion Touch or similar Revelations, but it’ll do as a wand for traversing dungeons, Kool-Aid Man-ing through walls, etc.
Hide from Undead: The spell affects multiple teammates, and unintelligent Undead don’t even get a save! Good stuff.
Instant Portrait: “The perp looked like that, officer!” You can get by with a scroll, if you feel you need anything at all.
Planar Orientation: Maybe as a scroll once you get to high enough levels to be able to plane shift.
Refine Improvised Weapon: If your weapon ever gets sundered, stolen, or otherwise taken out of commission, you might need this spell, unfortunately.
Speechreader’s Sight: It’s cheap enough that I’d consider getting it made permanent for 2,500 gp, but otherwise, a scroll will do.
Sun Metal: Minor fire damage, perhaps of some use halting regeneration or fast healing, but otherwise too minor to comment on.
Suspend Drowning: Just so you remember, characters who go unconscious in water have one chance to make a Fortitude save, and if they fail, they die the next round. A scroll won’t break the bank, and could very well save someone’s life.
Swallow Fear: If you know you’re going to be fighting Dragons or similar creatures that have fear auras, you might consider getting a scroll. All the options presented are better than being frightened or panicked.
Abstemiousness: Food will almost always be in plentiful supply. Unnecessary.
Abundant Ammunition: It’s really a wand spell, but any money you’d save on ammo is lost for the wand. Sorry, archers, buy your own arrows.
Advanced Scurvy: Fatigued is a pretty weak condition, barring some means of escalating to exhausted. Furthermore, this spell is a melee touch attack, Fortitude negates, and SR applies. Too much risk, not enough reward, which seems like a pretty bad trade-off for a spell created by the goddess of pirates.
Alleviate Addiction: Flavorful and potentially part of a character background, but mechanically useless.
Authenticating Gaze: NPC spell that’s flavorful but mechanically too specialized for even a scroll.
Bestow Planar Infusion I: Very, very niche. Planar adventures don’t happen, like, ever at 1st-level.
Bleeding Strike: Paltry damage. Pass.
Blessing of the Watch: A poor substitute for bless.
Celestial Healing: Patently worse than cure light wounds. Pass.
Ceremony: A lot of effort for minimal bonuses.
Command: I’ve never been command’s biggest fan. You’ve got the Will save, the SR, the language-dependent and mind-affecting clauses, and even after all that, the best you can do is cause one opponent to lose a round. Stay tuned for greater command, though, because that is at least a little better.
Compel Hostility: Might be of some use to Battle Oracles, but otherwise you probably don’t have the defenses to handle this better than anyone else.
Cultural Adaptation: Its best element is the increase to (Charm) spell DCs, but even that is too minor to be worth burning a 1st-level spell.
Curse Water: Not many campaigns will place you in conflict with Good-aligned Outsiders.
Dancing Lantern: You have light. Use that.
Deadeye’s Lore: WIS isn’t your strongest asset, let’s be honest. Leave this spell to Inquisitors, Druids, and Rangers.
Deathwatch: Doesn’t tell you anything you couldn’t get with a good Perception check.
Desperate Weapon: The spell requires only verbal components, making it ideal for attacking grapplers, etc. If you’re grappled, however, you should be focusing on escaping that grapple, rather than beating up someone who’s much better at this than you are.
Detect Radiation: Probably created for a Darklands campaign, but useless literally everywhere else. Unsurprisingly, radiation isn’t a common threat on Golarion.
Doom: Yawn. You’ve got a good CHA score, why not invest a few points in Intimidate and just roll to demoralize?
Dream Feast: Running out of food isn’t typically a concern in campaigns.
Embrace Destiny: You’ll only roll well, say, half the time, which kills much of the effectiveness right out of the gate. Add to that the rounds/level duration, and you can’t really leverage even the good rolls when you need them.
Fairness: Ah, you don’t really need this when you can roll Diplomacy or Intimidate well.
Ferment: Even if you do manage to successfully spike someone’s drink, the debuff is small.
Forbid Action: It’s decent at early levels, but at later levels, enemies who want to kill you can afford to kill you creatively.
Gorum’s Armor: Damage so minor it can’t possibly be a good deterrent.
Grasping Corpse: Despite the bonuses to CMB you’ll be getting on the roll, you need to have a corpse available, and it gets only one attempt to do its work. Pass.
Haze of Dreams: Will save, SR, [emotion], [mind-affecting], weak debuff. Womp womp.
Hidden Spring: Create water is a cantrip, so forget this puppy.
Ice Armor: Not bad, but there are a bunch of armor Revelations that do similar things better, and you can’t exactly enchant melting ice armor.
Inflict Light Wounds: Minuscule damage. Don’t ever get the inflict line of spells.
Instant Clot: Highly specific to aquatic campaigns.
Ironbeard: Dwarf only, and it inflicts a spell failure chance? Blech.
Karmic Blessing: At most, a +3 buff for a few seconds. Nah.
Kreighton’s Perusal: Good for...picking out books to steal, I guess?
Lighten Object: Why not ant haul?
Magic Stone: Slings aren’t common weapons, and this spell doesn’t do a lot to change that.
Mighty Fist of the Earth: Your unarmed strike damage is terrible. Not entirely sure why you get this spell at all.
Mirror Mantis: It’s suuuper flavorful for worshipers of Achaekek, but mechanically pretty bad.
Obscure Poison: Poison is mechanically weak in Pathfinder, so even intrigue-heavy games won’t find consistent uses for this spell.
Opportunistic Loyalty: Save negates, only you get the effect, and it’s reliant on enemy casters (probably divine casters, as if it could get more niche) being present. No thanks.
Peace Bond: I guess peace bond would prevent you from blasting your own teammates, but you can usually get around that with crafty targeting and not-dumb teammates.
Pesh Vigor: Enhancement bonus. If they’d made it an Alchemical bonus, I could have gotten behind this spell, but as it stands, bull’s strength and physical stat belts will compete too much for the slot.
Pick Your Poison: You’re better off just curing the poison.
Pierce Facade: Honestly, enemies will almost never use Disguise against you.
Poisoned Egg: Free poison! Too bad it’s terrible.
Positive Pulse: The area of effect is teeny tiny, and it can’t heal anyone, restricting casting to Undead combats only. Too niche.
Preserve: More food can always be acquired with the Survival skill, various Profession checks, and a number of other spells. You don’t really need to keep the food you have fresh.
Ray of Sickening: One target, close range, needs an attack roll and a failed save, all for a weak effect.
Read Weather: Leave this to the Druid.
Recharge Innate Magic: Won’t apply to everyone, and even those it does apply to won’t get a vast number of spells restored.
Reinforce Armaments: Does anyone actually use fragile weapons or armor?
Resist Starvation: Waaay niche.
Rune Trace: Also niche.
Sanctuary: Even if you’re using it to turtle up, some enemies will always be able to break through.
Scarify: Nonlethal damage heals in parallel with lethal damage, but if you’re going to use scarify to convert and cure light wounds to heal—two spells—why not simply use two cure light wounds?
Shield the Banner: Orc only, which should say it all.
Skim: Want to crush some mad pages, bro? No, seriously, you don’t need this.
Songbird: We’re not Bards, we’re Oracles!
Speak Local Language: You have to know the language you’re granting, which limits the spell’s utility somewhat.
Spirit Share: You can’t pull the usual skinsend shenanigans that Alchemists can, so don’t bother unless it’s for character flavor.
Starsight: There miiight be some minor synergy with the Heavens Mystery, but other than that, you’re barking up the wrong constellation.
Stunning Barrier: The bonus doesn’t scale at all, so it won’t translate well into upper levels.
Summon Minor Monster: Too weak to fight, too short-lived to scout. Pass.
Theft Ward: How often do you have enemies trying to steal from your party?
Touch of Blindness: Looks good on the face, but then you realize that you have to keep touching the enemy every round to keep the condition up, and they have to keep failing Fortitude saves.
Tracking Mark: Someone with a WIS focus should be doing the Survival checks, not you.
True Appraisal: Niche skill, niche spell.
Unbreakable Heart: Morale bonus. The bonus type and size are both good, but the circumstances in which it would apply are too narrow.
Watchful Eye: Use shield other instead.
Waterproof: Incredibly niche.
Weapons Against Evil: It’ll only ignore DR 5 or less, giving it a limited lifespan.
Winter Feathers: It’s endure elements, but in cold conditions only, and for Tengu only. Yeah, no.
Ashen Path: First blue in Level 2! Spells like cloudkill and veil of ash—anything that obscures vision, really—are positively no fun to deal with when they come from enemies, and it’s fun to just say “Nope!” to a broad category of common spellcasting tactics. Where things really start to get fun is when you use vision-obscuring spells, then deliberately give your teammates the ability to see through them. Obscuring mist suddenly seems a lot better, neh? Capping off the blue sandwich, the spell has a nice duration and can be split among party members right out of the gate, no communal ashen path needed. You really can’t beat it.
1/3/19 Update: Archives of Nethys just released a new batch of source books, one of which included an item called the saltspray ring. It’s notable for two reasons. First, the obscuring mist effect generated by the ring moves with the wearer; despite having a 10-ft. radius instead of the usual 20 ft., you’ll find the movement indispensable, as your only choice with the spell version is to keep the cloud up or dismiss it. Second, the mist can be created at will, and lasts until dismissed as a standard action. With ashen path, Oracles can grab a longspear, attack melee enemies from 10 ft. away, and enjoy total or partial concealment more or less permanently.
Bloody Tears and Jagged Smile: Profane bonus (!). I’m not sure you understand how good this spell is for a 2nd-level slot. Constant deathwatch and a natural attack are okay, but the real kicker here is a +4 bonus to spell save DCs that feature the [fear] descriptor. +4. Where the hell do you ever get bonuses like that? With Extend Spell, it’s possible to keep this spell running for most of the day. With your +4, it becomes trivially easy to land the 4th-level aura of doom, as well as the 1st-level bane; you can easily throw in a cruel weapon to stack the sickened condition on. Now you’re rocking a +4 to your DCs, while enemies are floundering at a -3 or -5 to their saves. That’s when you hit the baddest dude in the crowd with mortal terror. Fear effects don’t always work, but BTaJS certainly assures your supremacy when you’re facing anything less than outright immunity. The spell is from a Reign of Winter book and is tagged as belonging to one of the Four Horsemen, so don’t make a fuss if your GM vetoes it. It’s probably too good anyway.
Boneshaker: I don’t normally approve of “blasts,” but boneshaker is a special breed. Positioning is everything in Pathfinder, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise to learn that dropping a flying enemy by five feet, shunting an enemy into a flank, or pushing an enemy off a cliff in addition to dealing some hefty damage is a great tactical move. The spell is even more interesting vs. Undead, the mindless varieties of which don’t receive a save. This movement can provoke AoOs, so feel free to ping-pong them between teammates and let the AoOs stack up, run them into an environmental hazard, or force them to attack an ally. Your choice.
Drunkard’s Breath: Nauseated is one hell of a debuff, and drunkard’s breath lets you get that sweet, sweet hangover up and running a full level before stinking cloud. The fact that it belongs to my main man Cayden Cailean is just icing on the cake! Watch out for the [poison] descriptor.
Eagle’s Splendor: Enhancement bonus. You’re playing a CHA-based class; eagle’s splendor buffs your skill checks, spell save DCs, and Revelation DCs until such time as you get a headband that grants +4 CHA.
Ghost Whip: I’m a full-on ghost whip junkie. I can’t get enough ghost whip. 15-ft. reach, you gain proficiency with the whip, bypasses total cover, hits incorporeals for full lethal damage, and even grants some fun combat maneuvers, if that’s what you’re into. Ghost whip, is there nothing you can’t do? I wish I knew how to quit you.
Grace: Look, I’m not saying anyone wants to burn a 2nd-level spell in order to get the effect, but when you’re pinned down by an enemy with enormous reach and damage, your choice may be between casting grace and dying, literally. When it saves your life, you’ll thank me.
Instant Weapon: [Force] effects bypass DR and can hit incorporeals for full damage. We’re here for both of those things. Choose either instant weapon or ghost whip, but not both.
Mortal Terror: Fear conditions (shaken → frightened → panicked → cowering) start mild and get nasty fast, but without feats like the Unchained Intimidate Skill Unlock, it’s difficult to move enemies down the track. Mortal terror actually does a nice job of changing that: you’re reliant on the initial Will save, but after that, enemies are going to be at least shaken until the spell duration ends. In reality, enemies are guaranteed a few bad Will saves just by the law of mass action, which means it’s all over but the crying once the fear starts. Note the [mind-affecting] tag.
Recentering Drone: Concentration is the only troublesome aspect to an otherwise fantastic team buffing skill. Recentering drone outright suppresses weaker conditions, and turns much stronger conditions into the aforementioned weaker conditions. If you’re fighting enemies that rely on supernatural fear auras, nauseating stenches, etc., they’re in for a rough surprise.
Resist Energy: Classic, solid choice that will help you or allies tank any creature that relies on energy damage.
Summon Monster II: You start to get your first extraplanar summons at 2nd level, including Small-size Elementals and Lemure Devils. Whether you’re using them as meat shields or attackers, summons are never a bad idea.
Tears to Wine: In addition to making Investigators, Rogues, Wizards, etc. adore you, tears to wine is your ticket to skill domination. Lore Oracles in particular will want to get in on this action.
Admonishing Ray: Dealing nonlethal damage with weapons is not exactly the Oracle’s forte, so it’s nice to have the option here. [Force] effects, as always, bypass DR, and excepting enemies with immunity to nonlethal damage, admonishing ray is a good way to take prisoners and get answers.
Align Weapon: Unlike DR/Magic, which can be bypassed with a measly +1 enhancement bonus, the ability to penetrate DR/Alignment won’t come along until at least a +5 bonus, far, far down the line. If you’re in a campaign that fights a lot of Outsiders or Undead, consider it seriously, although there’s the caveat that communal align weapon will be more useful for most parties.
Alter Summoned Monster: Sometimes the conditions of a fight change, or you’ve got some duration left on your summon but want to grab a slew of healing SLAs from a different summon. Don’t waste a higher slot, just swap it out! Can also be used offensively to exchange a nasty summoned monster for, I don’t know, a dog.
Ancestral Communion: Insight bonus. Despite being from Dwarves of Golarion, I don’t see anything that explicitly restricts it to Dwarves. And a good thing, too! Ancestral communion is the perfect spell for out-of-combat knowledge checks when you’re poking about a place, trying to piece information together. Probably of more use to Bards than Oracles, but it’s a nice get nevertheless.
Angelic Aspect, Lesser: You’ve got some resistances, some vision enhancements, some protection from evil. Good little package.
Bear’s Endurance: Enhancement bonus. Most cash spent on physical stat belts will go to either STR or DEX, depending on your martial’s combat focus. That being the case, bear’s endurance’s enhancement bonus may go unchallenged in CON for a long, long time. And with Fortitude saves and HP keyed off of CON, you’re definitely going to want it running as often as you can spare a slot.
Blessing of Luck and Resolve: Morale bonus, Halfling only. Notable because Halfling Oracles (already quite good at what they do!) can give themselves outright immunity to fear effects at 3rd level. That’s a trick that won’t ever get old.
Burst of Radiance: Most enemies in most campaigns will be some brand of Evil, not that the damage here adds up much. It’s AoE blinding, though, and Reflex is by far the weakest enemy save as you level up. It’s a better debuff than most!
Cat’s Grace: Enhancement bonus. A perk for Ranged characters’ attack rolls, and better Reflex and AC scores for everyone else. Not bad!
Cleromancy: Luck bonus. Depending on your most commonly rolled result, you might be getting a versatile group of buffs to various skills. The rounds/level duration and full-round activation do make it cumbersome to use in combat—I’d think you’d use it primarily for out-of-combat skill checks, saves vs. traps, etc.
Dark Whispers: Interestingly, there’s no save attached to dark whispers: if you want enemies to hear you, they can’t stop you (short of SR, that is). Creatures with low INT or WIS scores might be tricked into revealing compromising information, frightened into fleeing or turning on allies, etc. Additionally, it’s a good battlefield communication spell—nice range, long duration, multiple targets—that lets you coordinate tactical plans on the fly.
Darkness: So begins the time-honored caster tradition of monkeying with light levels! Darkness is a little tougher to take tactical advantage of than, say, obscuring mist, but several Mysteries grant the See In Darkness universal monster ability, and a few spells like eyes of the void (you’d need to UMD a scroll) or true seeing can get you there. Check out the Shadow Mystery if you’re interested in illumination domination; in addition to being a kick-ass Mystery, it’s got more access to illusions and shadow spells than anyone else.
Gird Ally: Deflection bonus. Summoning is generally an excellent use of your action economy. Why not make those summons even tougher?
Halfling Vengeance: Halflings already make phenomenal Oracles, but one thing that they don’t do particularly well is deal damage in combat. Halfling vengeance starts to change that, giving you scaling Sneak Attack dice on top of your weapon damage. Add, say, Pharasma’s Deific Obedience, and you might be looking at some very respectable dagger damage. Where things really start to get intriguing are the Sneak Attack riders you can slap on enemies with no save! No AoOs? No 5-ft. steps? No DEX to AC? Those are some very, very powerful abilities to be able to sling around on command.
Instrument of Agony: Morale bonus. Oracles have high enough CHA scores to take advantage of demoralize tactics if they want to, and potentially high enough spell save DCs to make the nauseated condition hit. Even if it doesn’t hit, you still get the sickened condition for a round, which is a nice consolation prize.
Ironskin: Enhancement bonus. It doesn’t stack with amulets of natural armor, but that’s okay—ironskin will give you a much larger bonus anyway.
Light Prison: Rated green for multiple targets, Reflex save (tends to be the worst as levels increase), and decent battlefield control and debuffing.
Night Blindness: Days per level give night blindness increased efficacy beyond one battle, and it has a notable advantage in being able to destroy the See In Darkness universal monster ability. Ever wanted to make a Devil afraid of the dark? Damn right you have. As icing on the cake, SR does not apply, making it that much easier to land.
Owl’s Wisdom: Good for buffing your caster comrades, as well as improving Will saves.
Protection from [Alignment], Communal: Even dividing up the duration, you’ll still be good for a combat, and the benefits are diverse enough to be worth a slot.
Restoration, Lesser: Unless you have a Cleric in your party, people will expect you to have access to lesser restoration. Maybe you can get allies to chip in for a wand—I know 2nd level is where they start to get really expensive, but ability damage is juuust infrequent enough to make lesser restoration unappealing as a spell known. Remember that it works on the exhausted/fatigued conditions, as well!
Rock Whip: If you’re ever going adventuring in caves or underground areas, rock whip is quite the dandy little spell. Ignoring cover from unworked stone is great, and you get the equivalent of Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip) and Whip Mastery baked right into the spell. With free Bull Rush attempts on every attack, there’s no reason not to send enemies flying like ninepins.
Silence: Brutal on casters without the Silent Spell metamagic feat and some ability to dispel magic. Excellent also for stealth operations.
Weapon of Awe: Weapon of awe makes for a good buff on martial teammates, or else on your own weapon if you’re a combat-focused Oracle with a high crit range.
Aid: Morale bonus. The temporary HP bonus is small, but would at least prevent someone from dying if they were headed that way.
Air Walk: I like this spell because investment in the Fly skill actually nets you some nice returns. It’s good for exploration, battlefield maneuverability, and the like, but many Oracles just won’t have the space for it.
Beloved of the Forge: Luck bonus. Useful if (and only if) you’re into crafting feats for the uncommon luck bonus. Otherwise, pass.
Blessing of Courage and Life: Morale bonus. As long as you can pre-buff, it has better longevity and action costs than cure light wounds. Debatable whether that’s worth the higher spell slot.
Blinding Ray: Dhampir only. Fortitude saves prevail in later levels, so expect blinding ray to fall off somewhat in power as it ages. Undead and other nasties will frequently take the worse of the two options, however, so at least you have the option to pile on multiple saves for some decent blinding duration.
Bull’s Strength: Enhancement bonus. Ranged and Finesse fighters won’t need STR, and two-handed builds will already have physical stat belts to boost STR. It’s not bad, per se, but it gets outclassed quickly by other enhancement bonuses.
Calm Emotions: Concentration, [mind-affecting], Will save negates, and SR applies. That said, calm emotions can shut down Barbarians, Bards, creatures that rely on fear effects, and any and all Morale bonuses, not to mention its considerable utility in avoiding fights in the first place.
Death Knell: Casting death knell doesn’t come with many drawbacks, and can often be performed at the end of one combat to pre-buff for the next. Power eventually drops off, so consider retraining later.
Deathwine: Bones Oracles might be interested due to their relative reliance on Necromancy spells. You don’t have the resources to be a good potion brewer yourself, though, so this spell is only going to see play if you’re teamed with an Alchemist.
Defending Bone: I used to be really hard on this spell, but I’ve come around to liking it more. It’s most similar to clayskin, but with less universal DR coverage. Still decent at hours/level.
Delay Disease: Diseases might be less threatening than poisons or curses, but they’re still a royal pain in the ass. Unfortunately, delay disease is Ratfolk-only, meaning you’ll probably never use it.
Delay Poison: We ultimately want to cure poisons and other ongoing effects; delay poison is an acceptable stopgap, however.
Diminish Resistance: Some Mysteries (Flame, e.g.) might find themselves needing to decrease enemy resistances more often than is comfortable. If you chose one such overly specialized Mystery, then yes, you might need diminish resistance.
Gozreh’s Trident: Decent back-up weapon for Oracles who aren’t very combat-focused. Attacking Touch AC is always nice.
Groundswell: Dwarf only. Nobody likes getting flanked, but you can generally avoid the predicament with good combat positioning instincts and some help from allies.
Healing Token: Unclear whether this spell allows you to cast from a wand of cure light wounds. If it does, it bump up to green—letting teammates essentially heal themselves with their standard action is better than you using your standard action.
Heroic Fortune: Touch range and an expensive material component limit heroic fortune somewhat; no denying that Hero Points are powerful, though.
Hold Person: Between [mind-affecting], the restriction to humanoids, SR, and a new Will save every round, hold person really should be a last resort.
Inheritor’s Smite: Sacred bonus. Paladins could benefit more than Oracles; the Battle Mystery might be able to do something useful with Iomedae’s power, though.
Lead Plating: Only lasts minutes/level, so you’ll need it for more common effects like detect magic or detect alignment. Higher-level Divination spells like scrying won’t need line of effect to you.
Muffle Sound: Untyped bonus. Useful only for buffing non-caster sneaky snakes like Slayers or Rogues. The rest won’t want to deal with the spell failure chance.
Necrostasis: Staggered is a great condition, but this spell only functions vs. Undead. Yellow it is, then.
Outbreak: Fatigued? Meh. You get multiple targets, though, and could potentially use multiple outbreak slots in order to push the condition to exhausted.
Pilfering Hand: The situations in which you’d need pilfering hand are limited; however, the spell certainly accomplishes its goal better than you could on your own.
Savage Maw: Half-Orc only. Half-Orcs will tend to be melee Oracles—precisely where savage maw shines. Great for demoralize builds.
Spear of Purity: Marginally better than other alignment-based blasts like shard of chaos, but only because of the prevalence of Evil-aligned creatures in most campaigns. I still wouldn’t take it on most builds.
Spindrift Spritz: Decent effect, and you can’t beat the action economy, but I still think it’s a bit expensive as a 2nd-level spell.
Spiritual Weapon: Spiritual weapon unfortunately loses some of its oomph in the transition from the Cleric list because its accuracy is keyed off of WIS, not CHA. If your GM is willing to play ball on changing that, it’s a fantastic spell for harassing casters, blowing through the defenses of incorporeals and DR-heavy foes, and dealing damage without continued action input.
Staggering Fall: Battle Oracles might have the Revelations necessary to take advantage of a Trip-based build, although they’ll invariably sacrifice spell save DCs in order to be good at combat. Nice debuff if you can land it.
Sun’s Disdain: Permanent curses are always worth a look; however, the blinded portion is tricky to pull off, and dazzled alone isn’t a strong debuff.
Unliving Rage: For Bones Oracles, and Bones Oracles only.
Vexing Miscalculation: Crits at higher levels will kill people; this is your insurance policy.
Abeyance: A decent stopgap until you get remove curse. It’s not consistently useful enough to be a spell known, however.
Aboleth’s Lung: I know that some people try to use this spell offensively, but it’s a touch attack with a Will save to negate, and it’s intended to be Gillman-only. Even if you do make the landing, it’ll take a looong time for even commoners to “drown.” I say: don’t go chasing waterfalls. Stick to the rivers and the streams that you used to know.
Ant Haul, Communal: Prior to the advent of bags of holding, this spell is your ticket to Treasuretown.
Augury: Hard to interpret and even harder to act on, but still one of your earliest sources of meta-information in a campaign.
Brittle Portal: Brittle portal seems niche at first glance, and perhaps it is, which is why it’s been rated as a scroll or wand. It is fantastic for Kool-Aid-manning your way through walls, however. Want to stage an ambush on enemies in the next room? Smash through. Staging a heist at a bank? Smash through. Bypassing a trap you know is there but can’t disable? Smash through the wall. OHHH YEAAAAH.
Calm Spirit: Haunts can be tricky to deal with. Even though they’re not usually life-threatening, they can come with nasty debuffs, etc. Incorporeal enemies, similarly, are often tough customers. Perhaps nice to be able to stall them for a bit.
Compel Tongue: Alright for starting a negotiation with other creatures, I suppose; good luck getting them to let you touch them!
Consecrate: Normally Cleric fodder, you’ll want at least a scroll of consecrate to deal with necromancers, haunts, and the like.
Cure Moderate Wounds: You have cure moderate on your spell list, which is good enough for scrolls and wands. Use those, not spell slots.
Detect Magic, Greater: If detect magic is the adventuring workhorse of the cantrip list, greater detect magic is more uniquely suited to intrigue games, allowing you to identify lingering magical auras long after spells were cast and match spell signatures with specific casters. A scroll wouldn’t do you wrong.
Dress Corpse: Get it, a red herring is the material component? You slay me, Paizo. There’s some cool flavor here, but I’d wager that the skill check DCs to conceal your wrongdoing are too low to work on a consistent basis.
Enchantment Sight: Strong candidate for permanency at 2,500 gp. People who’ve been placed under magical compulsion frequently grant a Perception or Spellcraft check in order to recognize that something is wrong, but enchantment sight simply does it for you, no questions asked. Getting betrayed by bewitched people you thought were friends is the worst. Don’t let it happen to you.
Find Traps: For dungeon crawls if you don’t have a Rogue, Slayer, Investigator, etc.
Gentle Repose: I think of it more as a Cleric spell in the event that someone dies, but I suppose a scroll wouldn’t hurt if you’ve got the caysh.
Ghostbane Dirge: Other spells deal with incorporeals better; ghostbane dirge is decent in a pinch, however.
Hanspur’s Flotsam Vessel: I’d think that most river travel campaign segments would give you a boat, but if not…?
Instant Armor: For defense against incorporeal beasties.
Invigorating Poison: Alchemical bonus. Hard to get less common than alchemical bonuses, and it’s a fun way to turn the tables on enemies that rely on poisons to slowly sap your strength. I also love the material component—apple seeds are fine if eaten one or two at a time, but contain a compound that gets converted into cyanide in the gut. Paizo is so clever.
Make Whole: The very definition of a good scroll spell. If your weapons or armor get sundered, you’ll be really, really happy to have make whole on hand.
Page-Bound Epiphany: Excellent for Lore Oracles or anyone else who wants to be flexibly fantastic at Knowledge checks.
Protection from Outsiders: You get to select the Outsider subtype as you cast it, and it’s more powerful than the generic protection from [alignment]. Assuming someone in your party can reliably identify enemies, it’d make a good spell for a scroll. Those in Outsider-heavy campaigns (Wrath of the Righteous, Hell’s Rebels, etc.) might want to get it as a spell known, in fact.
Remove Paralysis: One of those unfortunate scenarios for spontaneous casters where the condition you want to cure is deadly serious, but also quite rare. Scrolls will have to do.
Reveal True Shape: It’s a scroll, if it’s anything.
Sacred Space: Aasimar only. Decent debuffs against Evil Outsiders with no save or SR.
Secret Speech: Excellent team communication spell for instances when you need to say one thing but mean another.
Shackle: Far better as a late-game scroll for preventing Outsiders, etc. from teleporting away.
Stabilize Pressure: You’ll know if you’re in a campaign that calls for deep sea exploration spells.
Suppress Charms and Compulsions: You really, really don’t want your party’s Fighter coming to kill you.
Surmount Affliction: Q: How can surmount affliction suppress the paralyzed condition, when it has somatic components? A: I don’t know, but it’d be hilarious to watch someone try it.
Trail of the Rose: I could see this spell being useful in dungeon crawls, scouting, or infiltration operations. Not an everyday magic, though.
Undeath Sense: Decent buff for non-magical PCs in Undead-heavy games, with a nice long duration.
Undetectable Alignment: Good intrigue spell, and comes out-of-the-box effective at 24 hours.
Zone of Truth: Sometimes you’ve just gotta RP as Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird.
Alchemical Tinkering: Can’t think of an instance where you would need this so desperately you couldn’t walk out and buy some alchemical fire or an acid flask.
Ally Across Time: Oracles are unlikely to have many Teamwork feats or derive much benefit from Aid Another.
Amplify Stench: Explicitly for troglodytes. Forget it.
Ancestral Regression: How many Drow do you team up with?
Animate Dead, Lesser: At this level, you’d be burning quite a bit of money for a minor effect. Stick with summon spells.
Arrow of Law: Too many saves for half damage, and alignment-based effects are the very definition of “not universally applicable.” Remember the spontaneous caster’s Golden Rule: useful every day, in all situations, against all enemies.
Bestow Weapon Proficiency: A 2nd-level spell with a minutes/level duration won’t fix the problem of missing weapon proficiency. People need to use the weapons their class can naturally use.
Blood Blaze: Orc only. Weak fire damage with plenty of potential to harm the caster. Nope.
Blood in the Water: And fire in the skyyy, nah nana nananaaaaa! Planning on escalating many shark attacks, were you?
Blood of the Martyr: Blech, frickin’ gross. And mechanically weak.
Bloodbath: Reliant on saves for very weak damage. Many enemies are immune to bleed, as well.
Boiling Blood: Appallingly low damage, and only buffs Orcs.
Bone Fists: Lunar Oracles will like this spell already, but for other Mysteries its value depends on your teammates’ builds. If you don’t have anyone with a natural attack build, there are better buffs.
Book Ward: Perhaps useful for Wizards trying to protect their spell books. You don’t need such tomfoolery.
Build Trust: Circumstance bonus. Rrrrrgh, I struggled with this one. Circumstance bonuses stack with everything, and the duration is so long that you could practically get someone down the aisle before they had a chance to think twice about it. The big drawback for me is that the bonus doesn’t scale, so you’re left with a +2 forever. Your target gets a Will save to negate, as always, which also means that your spell might just fizzle if you try it on them.
Cloud of Seasickness: Drunkard’s breath does much better work for the same spell slot.
Compassionate Ally: I’ll confess to not understanding this spell. Your allies won’t need any encouragement to keep teammates alive, and what’s the point of getting enemies to look after their own? Delay them? Burn their spell slots? It all seems unnecessarily circuitous.
Conditional Favor: Finicky and even more finicky. Hold out for something like conditional curse at 3rd level.
Contact Entity I: Not for you unless you’re RPing some kind of Elder Mythos cultist.
Curse Item: The curse would take time and subterfuge to use effectively, both things that adventurers don’t often have.
Curse Terrain, Lesser: Maybe, maybe for Evil-aligned characters setting up their own demiplane later? Certainly not something any 3rd-level Oracle should be choosing as a known spell.
Deadeye’s Arrow: Weak damage, useless secondary effect.
Death Candle: Ifrit only. You’ve got summon monster II, might as well use that instead.
Delay Pain: Pain effects are rare.
Desecrate: Unless you’re playing an Evil-aligned Bones Oracle, you’re unlikely to want desecrate.
Detect Relations: What are you planning to do, stage your own version of Maury?
Disfiguring Touch: Hold out for some of the heftier debuffs later on the spell list.
Display Aversion: Useless unless you’re consistently fighting Vampires.
Dread Bolt: Anemic damage, alignment restrictions. Blah.
Dwarven Veil: Dwarves make for poor Oracles.
Early Judgment: Mild debuff—too mild for my taste.
Effortless Armor: Casting this spell won’t solve any problems, long-term. Either spring for mithral and lighter armor, or else deal with the penalties of heavier armors.
Endure Elements, Communal: It’s funny, actually: both endure elements and its communal cousin last the same amount of time, but communal splits the duration among multiple targets. You don’t actually gain any endure elements duration by using a 2nd-level spell, as opposed to a 1st-level spell!
Enemy’s Heart: Orc only, and far too finicky for what amounts to a death knell.
Enthrall: Bogus HD restrictions with a weak effect.
Eroding Ray: Maybe good if you’re playing Iron Gods or somesuch, but pretty useless elsewhere.
Fear the Sun: Burst of radiance is a better spell for abusing blindness.
First World Revisions: Won’t meet many wayangs.
Flickering Lights: Why would you want the lighting to change randomly between bright light and supernatural darkness? What is the possible utility of that?
Ghoul Hunger: That rare intersection of disgusting and mechanically useless!
Hold Fey: As hold person, but against a rarer enemy type.
Holy Ice Weapon: Hard to see where it would come in handy.
Imbue Aura: Again, under what circumstances?
Imbue Elemental Might: Not applicable.
Inflict Moderate Wounds: Inflict spells are never, never worth the trouble. Paltry damage on a melee touch, with a Will save for half. No, no, a thousand times no.
Influence Wild Magic: Primal magic rules are by no means common.
Inner Focus: Oracles don’t have holy symbols corresponding to deities, so you don’t run much risk of people getting offended.
Intensify Psyche: Competence bonus. Common bonus type, non-scaling, niche benefits to spell save DCs. Pass.
Know Peerage: Knowledge (Nobility) was later classified as a Background Skill for a reason.
Lay of the Land: Insight bonus. Very niche checks to wilderness survival skills.
Life Channel: Dhampir only. Weak and niche.
Life Pact: Weak, weak, weak.
Locate Portal: About as common an occurrence as it sounds like it would be.
Magic Boulder: You’re not a Giant. Pass.
Magic Siege Engine: Highly uncommon scenario.
Marching Chant: Forced marching won’t come up much.
Martyr’s Bargain: You’ll probably use this spell precisely once per lifetime of a character: a Maximized disintegrate or cone of cold is basically a guaranteed kill. And sure, that’s kind of the point, but not very helpful for your long-term survival.
Masterwork Transformation: You still need to pay the material cost for the transformation, so there’s no reason not to have an NPC perform this function for you.
Necromantic Burden: Simpler just to kill the Undead, unless you’re a Bones Oracle who really wants to control legions of rotting followers.
Oracle’s Burden: Oracles generally try to select Curses that are as minimally intrusive as possible. That being the case, many enemies won’t be significantly slowed by taking on your Curse.
Overstimulate: Bad on allies, bad on enemies.
Path of Glory: The healing is too weak to be useful out of combat, and too slow to be useful in combat.
Peacemaker’s Parley: Fantastically weak spell, and something that most GMs will let you do without a spell.
Planetarium: What are you going to do, start charging schoolchildren for a visit?
Preserve Grace: Those concerned with keeping in their deity’s good graces should learn that deity’s likes and dislikes. No need for a spell.
Protection from Spores: For use in Strange Aeons, and nowhere else.
Protection from Technology: For use in Iron Gods, and nowhere else.
Protective Penumbra: For use by Drow, and no one else.
Radiation Ward: For use in the Darklands, and nowhere else.
Reinforce Armaments, Communal: Not useful unless your GM is sunder-happy.
Restful Cloak: Not quite quality of life, not quite healing. Doesn’t really pass muster.
Returning Weapon: Thrown weapon builds aren’t common among Oracles.
Revealing Light: Too uncommon to be worthwhile even for a scroll.
Rotgut: Maybe some subterfuge applications? It’s hard to think of how it could be used effectively.
Rovagug’s Fury: Trip loses power against non-bipedal creatures, larger creatures, etc., and you get no particular bonuses to the CMB check. Not worth it.
Semblance of Flesh: Going to be disguising Constructs often?
Sense Fear: Not useful.
Sense Madness: As above.
Sentry Skull: Orc only, requires a full hour to cast, weak effect. Orcs make terrible Oracles anyway.
Shard of Chaos: Weak blast.
Share Language: Unfortunately, you have to know the language you’re sharing. And how many ranks in Linguistics is a CHA-based full caster going to invest in?
Shared Sacrifice: Combat-focused Oracles will want this spell most, but they’ll also be the least likely to be able to tag an enemy with it.
Shatter: Maybe if you’re adventuring on the Plane of Earth?
Shield of Fortification: It’s a great effect; the duration is just too short to make it viable.
Shield of Shards: Dedicating a move action each round to hitting someone with a shard will prevent you from full-attacking. Problem right off the bat.
Shield Other: Only Life Oracles should be interested in soaking damage from teammates, and they can do that through Life Link.
Silent Table: Niche even in intrigue-heavy games.
Snow Shape: Ulfen only. Specific to cold environments, and weak even there.
Solidify Earth: Functions only vs. burrowing creatures, which, ya know.
Soothing Word: Use recentering drone instead—it’s PFS legal and can affect the whole team.
Sound Burst: Stunned is a great condition for enemies to have, but the damage is low and Fort saves get really good in later levels.
Spell Gauge: You’ll lose a bunch of the effectiveness just detecting cantrips and other not-so-deadly spells...that’s if they fail their Will save and you pass the SR check, of course. Blah.
Spiral Descent: Much simpler to fly down or up.
Spiritual Squire: The most useful aspect of the squire is the Aid Another actions it can perform, but how’s that gonna work when you have to threaten an enemy in order to Aid, and the squire can’t threaten?
Stalwart Resolve: At rounds/level, you won’t be shrugging off the effects of ability damage so easily. Better to cast lesser restoration and cure it instead.
Stave Off Corruption: Useful for...Carrion Crown? Strange Aeons? Again, you’ll know if you’re in a horror campaign.
Stoke the Inner Fire: Weak fire damage.
Stone Throwing: Stone throwing is only good if you’re a Giant. You’re not a Giant, are you?
Storm Sight: Waaay too finicky for everyday use.
Summon Cacodaemon: Stick with summon monster II.
Sympathetic Wounds: Expensive and evil. But mostly expensive.
Touch of Mercy: Only builds that focus on non-lethal damage will want it, and they’ll have the tools to do it already.
Track Ship: Maybe for Skull & Shackles?
Transmute Wine to Blood: About as useful as it sounds.
Twisted Futures: Counters an uncommon monster ability.
Unholy Ice Weapon: For all those times when you’re captured by Archons and stripped of all your worldly possessions.
Urgathoa’s Beacon: NPC spell.
Violent Accident: Packs enough punch to hurt only very weak enemies. Might be of more use if you’re trying to convince someone that assassins are after them.
Web Shelter: Only good against low-level environmental hazards; you certainly won’t be foiling any attacks with your impenetrable fortress.
Whispering Lore: Tears to wine is sooo much better.
Bestow Curse: A bread-and-butter debuff that only gets better with player creativity and some GM discretion. Even if you can’t find any better options, a permanent -4 debuff to all d20 rolls is...formidable.
Blood Rage: Now here is a serious buff for melee fighters. If you’ve got a Barbarian in your party or you’re playing with the Battle Mystery, you’ll absolutely want a piece of blood rage.
Bone Flense: Incredible damage-dealing spell if you’re at all affiliated with the Red Mantis Assassins. If not, well, relegate it to red.
Channel Vigor: Competence bonus. I still have a hard time believing how good channel vigor is. Granted, haste is a common buff spell, and there’s no shortage of competence bonuses, but you’re still getting +4 or +6 to a huge variety of skills and saves and can change between them as a move action. You’re getting versatility with channel vigor; as spontaneous casters, we need as much of that in our diet as we can get.
Dark-Light: Dark-light may be usable only by Kobolds. See what your GM rules. If they say yea, you’ve gotten access to a real peach of a spell. It’s essentially mass blindness, and features a debuff (not a great one, but something) on a successful save—a rare trait indeed. Targets Fortitude, but even the best ointments have a fly or two.
Deadly Juggernaut: Oracles of the Battle, Metal, Ascetic, Dragon, and other combat-oriented Mysteries will be frothing at the mouth to get this gem. As the duration scales, you should have fewer and fewer issues striking killing blows for that sweet increase in power. Only use it if there are multiples on the field, obviously—single high-CR opponents won’t be much impressed.
Dispel Magic: Versatile and powerful: everything a spontaneous spell should be.
Forced Mutation: A spell that’s similar to bestow curse, but with some extra debuff variety. Good part of any Bad Touch repertoire.
Mathematical Curse: As the name implies, it’s a little more math-y and random than bestow curse, but correspondingly more powerful. If you manage to roll a 1 on any of your d8s, the enemy can essentially kiss their lives goodbye, because you can then curse them through the floor while their Will save is flatlined.
Nap Stack: I sat down to do the math on nap stack and found myself liking it more and more. Detailed math is below, but suffice it to say, nap stack beats the pants off of cure light wounds in healing-per-gp. Being a once-a-week cast, it’s not a bad scroll spell, especially if you’re higher level or have Scribe Scroll, but I could see a good argument for using it as a spell known, too. Your GM can always screw with you by throwing in a midnight encounter or two, but with a 1/week cap, the spell is hardly abusable—I think they’ll most likely leave it alone. Detailed math here.
Paragon Surge: Enhancement bonus, and Half-Elf only. There is more here than meets the eye! Initially, paragon surge feels like a miniature Martial Flexibility rolled up with an attribute buff, but that only scratches the surface. You can pick up Expanded Arcana to flexibly grab spells off the Wizard/Sorcerer list, Skill Focus to become really good at something for a bit, Extra Revelation, Metamagic...the choices are limitless. Paizo did clarify in a FAQ, however, that once you make your choice about what paragon surge does your choice is locked in for the day. (Thanks to /u/Zizara42 for the nice spot! +1.) The exception to this rule may be with the Emergency Attunement feat, which appears to be able to swap out your active feat. (Thanks, /u/endarire!)
Prayer: Luck bonus. Bless and bane, rolled into one no-save buffing/debuffing package. Note the [mind-affecting] rider.
Resist Energy, Communal: You could debate about whether this is blue or green, but I’m sticking with blue. Elemental enemies (or enemies with elemental elements, as it were, like breath weapons) are exceedingly common. Energy damage cuts through DR, can have nasty effects on equipped gear, usually comes with attached save riders, etc. Bad stuff. Communal resist energy is a flexible “No thank you” to all of the HP damage associated with energy attacks, and at 10 min./level, you’ll always have more than enough to get the team through a fight or two.
Second Wind: A 3rd-level spell is a valuable resource, to be sure, and you can’t blow them lightly. Second wind can and will save your life, however. Sit up and pay attention.
Shield of Darkness: Oracles don’t get access to displacement, which is the arcane equivalent of shield of darkness. Both spells are foiled by true seeing, which fortunately won’t become commonplace for a number of levels. The See In Darkness monster ability is a little more common, but not by much unless you’re fighting Devils on the regular. At any rate, a top-notch defensive power that combat-oriented Oracles will absolutely want.
Shield of Wings: It’s got some Ragathiel flavor, but man, what a spell. Divine casters get comparatively few methods of obtaining flight, but here we’ve got fly plus a very respectable resist energy effect to fire damage. Great stuff.
Summon Monster III: Summon monster III is where extraplanar entities make their grand entrance, including Lantern Archons and Dretch Demons. You won’t ever regret having access to summons—just make sure to read up on what all your options are, and what they can do. Lantern Archons’ light blasts are ranged touch attacks that specifically bypass all DR or energy resistance, for example!
Align Weapon, Communal: DR/Alignment is a big problem when it comes to fighting Outsiders, Undead, etc., and there’s not a great way of dealing with it apart from getting a holy weapon or racking up a +5 Enhancement bonus on your weapon. Failing that, communal align weapon is your best bet.
Animate Dead: Can’t say no to more meat shields on the field. And if they die quickly, well, that was kind of the point, no?
Archon’s Aura: AoE debuffing is bound to tag one or two enemies, even with a Will save. And it’s not a bad debuff!
Beacon of Luck: Sacred bonus. Rerolls on saves may very well save peoples’ lives, plus minutes/level isn’t a bad duration.
Blindness/Deafness: Even with a Fortitude save negating the effect entirely, permanent blindness is too good to pass up.
Chain of Perdition: Most Oracles aren’t great at combat maneuvers; fortunately, the chain of perdition is. It’s great for harassing enemies while you cast from a safe distance, as it’s only got a move action component.
Daylight: Don’t let darkness tactics screw your team up!
Deeper Darkness: Soft battlefield control that’s effective at many levels. A good, solid spell.
Find Fault: Insight bonus. Oracles don’t have a lot of skill ranks to burn on monster identification Knowledges, so this spell really helps cover your bases. An ounce of knowledge is worth a pound of action in Pathfinder, where monster strengths and weaknesses are concerned.
Magic Circle Against [Alignment]: Still great as a 3rd-level spell. Just keep in mind that +2 (Deflection) to AC and +2 (Resistance) to saves will eventually be obviated by magic items that everyone buys.
Magic Vestment: Many Mysteries have armor Revelations that are ideal candidates for magic vestment, especially since the durations of the Revelations and the duration of the spell are identical. If your GM rules that armor Revelations aren’t valid candidates for magic vestment, you’re shit out of luck, but it’s still not bad on a suit of armor if you want to spend your money on other stuff.
Mind Maze: Enemies in a mind maze are entirely helpless, although you’ll want to use it in wide-open areas so that they get as few repeat saves as possible. Fantastic soft control if they fail that initial save.
Protection from Energy: Decent enough in its single-target form, but even better when you get the communal version later.
Sand Whirlwind: Ah! Fabulous anti-caster spell. No SR allowed, and the Will save only negates the blinded condition, not the forced concentration checks for casting spells with verbal components. No SR + No Save = NO MERCY.
Sands of Time: Another no-save touch debuff, but the effect is too diffuse to hit as hard as bestow curse or similar. Still good for a Bad Touch playstyle.
Stone Shape: Stone shape is versatile, I’ll grant you, but remember that 10 cubic feet and change isn’t a lot. No walls, cages, etc. for you.
Wind Wall: And after aaaallllll you’re my wind waaaaaallll. Halting swarms, blowing away small flying enemies, dispersing breath weapons or stinking clouds, making ranged weapons less accurate...wind wall does a lot. It can’t actually stop larger enemies from moving through, which is the only reason it gets dinged down to green, but it’s still highly effective in many circumstances.
Aggravate Affliction: Oracles have the spells to be hardcore debuffers. For things like geas/quest or diseases that get worse the longer they’re in effect, this spell could ramp up the pain quickly.
Badger’s Ferocity: Good if you’ve got a lot of martial classes on your team.
Bestow Insight: Much better for skill monkey classes like Bards or Wizards. You won’t have the skill ranks to use it terribly effectively.
Channel the Gift: Decent for allied spellcasters in dire situations.
Contagion: Diseases can be powerful, but work slowly and target the typically strong Fortitude save. If you really want to shut people down, you’ll need to be patient while the contagion works its magic and hope that they don’t have the means to cure disease.
Create Food and Water: Maybe good if you’re going in for a hardcore wilderness survival campaign.
Curse of Befouled Fortune: Catfolk only. Ill omen is the better debuff if you went with the Dual-Cursed Oracle, but this isn’t terrible.
Detoxify: It’s far, far easier to nullify poison proactively, rather than reactively. It’s pending a Fortitude save, which is the only reason detoxify gets dinged.
Discovery Torch: Enhancement bonus. A surprisingly decent team buff for commonly used skill checks, and light, to boot.
Draconic Malice: It might still be worth your investment if you’ve built heavily into Intimidate, but the spell text specifies living targets, which rules out Undead and Constructs, two of the biggest enemy types whose blanket immunity to [mind-affecting] effects you’d want to penetrate.
Enter Image: The limits are expansive enough that you’d almost have trouble imagining what you could do with enter image. Spymasters or Intrigue Oracles will be interested, at the very least.
Final Sacrifice: Haha, gross! Just splatter that summoned creature all over the demiplane. Summons are a pretty tried-and-true caster tactic, so it’s nice to have some remedy at hand.
Flesh Puppet: Bones Oracles might be more than happy to pick up this spell, which comes with undeniably cool necromantic flavor. Kill someone, reanimate them under your control, and fool everyone!
Free Swim: Great for aquatic campaigns like Ruins of Azlant. Not great elsewhere.
Frosthammer: Decent single-target blast with no save and a better attempt at a Trip maneuver.
Hide from Undead, Greater: Basically, an “I Win” button against mindless Undead, and not too shabby at all against intelligent Undead.
Iron Stake: Surprisingly decent damage as a ranged touch attack, and no SR. If you envision yourself regularly fighting Fey, Demons, Devils, etc., take a good look.
Meld Into Stone: A serviceable panic button as long as you’re not facing a caster that knows how to get you out of the wall. Transmute rock to mud is especially nasty, acting as a save-or-die against your melded form.
Revelation: Not a bad spell for Lore Oracles or others who expect to be skill-heavy.
Screaming Flames: Not the greatest HP damage, but WIS damage starts to pique my interest.
Searing Light: Okay single-target blast spell in Undead-heavy campaigns. Skippable elsewhere.
Sebaceous Twin: Jeez, that’s gross. Okay, well, when life gives you freakish Alien babies, drain some CON with that shit.
Shadowmind: Devils and other nasties will have See In Darkness, which usually beats any kind of darkness or deeper darkness you can throw at them. Shadowmind is obviously a little more vulnerable, relying as it does on a failed save and SR penetration check, but it’s still better than nothing if you need to get some concealment going.
Sharesister: Let’s be clear: you’ll be crippling yourself by casting this spell, possibly to the point of opening yourself up to be killed. Outside of combat, however, the negative levels won’t be as much of a drag, especially as they disappear after a few minutes. If you’ve got a party Wizard who needs to do some major Divination, Enchantment, etc., it might not be a bad idea to super-buff them before they go to town.
Skyshroud: Oracle Mysteries feature at least two abilities that depend on being able to see the sky: Guiding Star from Heavens and Serpent in the Sun from Solar. If you’ve got a Revelation that depends on it, just know that this spell is here.
Titanic Anchoring: Buffs to CMD are pretty rare, and immunity to maneuvers rarer still. Maybe worth it if you fight a lot of enemies that like to grapple or trip.
Toxic Blood: Black Adder Venom has a very low save DC; fortunately, toxic blood substitutes your spell save DC for the poison’s natural save DC. Won’t do diddly against poison-immune enemies or those who use spells or bludgeoning damage to kill you.
Vampiric Hunger: If you’ve got a Tetori Monk or similar grapple specialist on the team, here’s a fun way to kill enemies even faster.
Water Walk: It’s not just for water! Ice, snow, mud, etc. are all valid targets, which opens up the ability to skate over difficult terrain in certain environments.
Aura Sight: Great in intrigue situations, and definitely a candidate for permanency.
Blessing of the Mole: Scrolls are good if you’ve got people in your party without Darkvision.
Blood Biography: A single scroll might come in handy if you ever run across a crime scene or something. I could see it getting a bit of play in PFS.
Catatonia: AKA the Romeo & Juliet spell. There might be situations where you need to disguise someone as dead. It’s not unheard of.
Charitable Impulse: This spell can really turn the tables on humanoids, but is unfortunately ineffective against anyone else.
Contest of Skill: Fail to save, and your enemy can’t deal critical damage. That’s a great deal for BBEGs.
Cure Serious Wounds: Wands of cure light wounds are more economical, but you never know when you’ll run across a scroll of cure serious.
Cursed Treasure: The ultimate insurance policy on any item you want guarded.
Daybreak Arrow: Keeping a scroll around for vaporizing Undead wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Delay Poison, Communal: Better to be poisoned outside of combat than in it, after all.
Detect Anxieties/Desires: Two sides of the same coin, and while situationally useful, I can’t see you burning 3rd-level spell slots to cast these every day.
Disrupt Silence: Silence is a bear to deal with, so maybe don’t deal with it.
False Alibi: A fantastic spell for Intrigue Oracles, but definitely not an everyday spell.
Free Spirit: Freedom of movement in return for getting wasted...I mean, is there a better trade-off than that?
Helping Hand: Might work if you get separated, or if you wanted to lure a goon with less sense than is good for him into a trap. Otherwise, too expensive for a 3rd-level spell.
Invisibility Purge: It’s a fantastic spell: no save, no SR, huge radius, decent duration. You really need groups of invisible enemies to make it worth your while, though, and that’s simply not an everyday occurrence. Grab a scroll or two and thank me later.
Lissalan Snake Sigil: This spell has some crippling variants, and unusually, a Reflex save to negate a curse effect. With a 500 gp material component, you won’t be using it often enough to warrant a spell known, but it makes for a good trap.
Locate Object: You’ll only be able to locate your lost possession if the person who took it isn’t a caster. If they know about ways to foil locate object, you’re sunk.
Mark of Buoyancy: In case you need to create an emergency hover sled. Is that a thing? I hope that’s a thing.
Mark of Obvious Ethics: Better as a tracking device than as an alignment effect, but still.
Planned Assault: Morale bonus. Sometimes you get ambushed or there’s no surprise round for anyone. Bitter pill to swallow, but there it is. In the instances where you can plan, this spell does good work, although morale bonuses are fairly common.
Plant Voice: I don’t know that it’s great as a 3rd-level spell, but there’s something undeniably cool about asking an oak tree, “Which way did the bad guys go!?” and getting a meaningful response.
Remove Blindness/Deafness: The following three spells are all mandatory scrolls for Oracles, especially if there’s no party Cleric. Can’t afford to have these conditions weighing you down for long, or you’ll be dead.
Remove Curse: Yup.
Remove Disease: Also yup.
Riversight: Cool flavor, if geographically restricted. Situationally useful.
Share Language, Communal: For when you need to start bilateral trade negotiations but don’t have a translator present.
Silverlight: Get yourself a scroll if you think you’ll be fighting lycanthropes, etc.
Speak With Dead: Sometimes all you have is a pile of bodies and unanswered questions. You can’t quite fix the body problem yet, but you can at least get some answers!
Unhallowed Blows, Greater: For Bones Oracles, and no one else.
Voluminous Vocabulary: Situationally useful.
Water Breathing: Also situationally useful.
Accept Infliction: Cure the affliction, don’t waste a 3rd-level spell putting it on yourself!
Agonize: I’d sooner not make enemies of omnipotent extraplanar beings, if it’s all the same to you.
Agonizing Rebuke: Hobgoblin only, which is really all you need to know about why this spell was marked red.
Air Breathing: NPC spell.
Appearance of Life: Bones Oracles might consider it, but necromancers generally don’t care what the world thinks of their activities. If you happen to be Good-aligned and want your undead servitors not to arouse suspicion, well, it’s an [Evil] spell. No dice.
Aura of Cannibalism: Meant for monsters.
Aura of Inviolate Ownership: Steal and Disarm aren’t common tactics, by and large.
Black Sword of War: It’s not uncommon for enemies to be immune to bleed effects, and the damage never spikes very high.
Bleed Glory: Mythic campaigns are rare.
Blood Scent: Niche.
Blot: Even if you were going to use this spell on a Wizard’s spell book or some such, attended magical objects receive the same save as their wielder, so you’re not any more likely to cripple them that way.
Borrow Fortune: I debate whether this spell’s effects are worth the tradeoffs.
Calculated Luck: Too random to be of much use.
Champion’s Bout: Unless you fight a lot of duels, no.
Collaborative Thaumaturgy: Reliant on multiple spellcasting allies who also have access to the spell.
Contact Entity II: Again, not unless you’re an Elder Mythos cultist or something.
Contact High: Can’t be used offensively, so it’s mostly flavor.
Contagious Zeal: Morale bonus. The morale bonus is small enough that it will get outstripped quickly. And even though it’s technically a team buff, it doesn’t do a great job of giving all those benefits to everyone immediately.
Continual Flame: This should be something you have an NPC cast.
Control Vermin: You don’t have the class feature support to be able to influence animals well.
Create Soul Gem: Expensive, and anyway, what are you going to use a soul gem for?
Curative Distillation: Not demonstrably better than cure light wounds.
Daggermark’s Exchange: For Alchemists, not Oracles.
Damnation: Area blast, but reliant on the presence of specific spellcasting conditions.
Discharge: For Iron Gods or similar tech campaigns, but not most vanilla Pathfinder.
Dragon Turtle Shell: The base damage of natural weapons is far less concerning than enormous STR modifiers or terrible riders that take effect when you make physical contact. I wouldn’t be too concerned about taking the d8 down to a d4.
Drain Poison: Eh, poison still isn’t great.
Elemental Speech: Tongues is coming up in the 4th-level spell list. Wait until then.
Fair Is Foul: Most of the arcane malignancies are simple -2 penalties to a few skill checks. Nah.
Fortune’s Path: As a divination effect, it’s not my favorite.
Fractions of Heal and Harm: Oracles don’t have the spell list to do heavy area blasting. Better left to the Sorcerers.
Glyph of Warding: Big material cost for a questionable benefit.
Guarding Knowledge: Insight bonus. If it were a team-based spell, it’d turn my head. It’s not worthwhile for just you, though.
Guiding Star: You don’t get teleport. Is this needed?
Healing Leak: Healing via Channel is rare.
Holy Javelin: Not useful even for tagging enemies that like to go invisible.
Homeward Bound: Minute-long casting time negates dismissal’s offensive potential.
Horrifying Visage: It’s area-based and can’t be moved, so you’d have to have a group of enemies firmly entrenched somewhere in order to even have a chance of using it.
Hydrophobia: Too niche except for some evil fun.
Infernal Challenger: Explicitly for Hellknight initiation ceremonies.
Inflict Serious Wounds: Weak, weak, weak.
Irradiate: I don’t imagine most GMs are incorporating radiation rules into their games.
Irregular Size: Bestow curse will do a much better job nearly all of the time.
Kalistocrat’s Nightmare: Flavor spell.
Ki Leech: Single-class Oracles have no way of gaining ki.
Life Current: Healing based on being in a moving body of water? That sounds...overly picky.
Life Shield: Weak damage.
Light of Iomedae: Invisibility purge is a much better spell at the same level.
Lightning Lash: Fortitude negates, SR applies, and weak damage even if you hit.
Lover’s Vengeance: Don’t take lovers in Pathfinder, kids. Table romances never work out well.
Mantle of Calm: Niche protection unless you fight Barbarians every day.
Martyr’s Last Blessing: Doesn’t heal you, and doesn’t heal teammates for much.
Minor Reversion: That’s a lot of trouble for a conditional cure light wounds.
Monstrous Extremities: The Lamashtu flavor alone will scare most off. Good thing it’s not a great spell, either.
Numerological Resistance: Resist energy, communal is also a 3rd-level spell, but crushes numerological resistance in duration and consistency.
Oath of Justice: Pretty specific to Dwarves, who don’t make good Oracles at the best of times.
Obscure Object: Leave the anti-Divination tactics to your resident arcane caster and get on with your job.
Pressure Adaptation: Niche even in aquatic adventures.
Project Weakness: You’re not a vampire, are you? Right? Please tell me you’re not a vampire.
Raging Rubble: Oread only, doesn’t scale damage or Distraction DC, full-round cast. Weeeak.
Reaper’s Coterie: Rarely, if ever, will you have enough chaff enemies to mow through in order to rack up a significant damage bonus. Plus it’s [Evil], and most PCs are some brand of good or neutral.
Recharge: Expensive material component, and explicitly for tech-heavy games.
Restore Mythic Power: Mythic PCs are few and far between.
Returning Weapon, Communal: Welcome to the House of Flying Daggers, motherfucker.
Reveal Mirage: How niche thou art, reveal mirage.
Righteous Condemnation: That’s a hefty debuff, but against what? A Sense Motive check? Am I missing something here? Please, weigh in.
Sacred Bond: Oracles doing their healing through the Life Link Revelation won’t need it, and no one else will want it.
Sadomasochism: Enemies will put out far more damage than you will. They win, you lose.
Severed Fate: No Hero Points? Ooooh, I’m shaking in my boots.
Share Glory: Again, Mythic rules rarely see play.
Shared Training: Inquisitors are about the only ones who should take this spell. Oracles can’t really use it effectively.
Skeleton Crew: I looove the flavor. How cool is it to become the Flying Dutchman? Still, very few campaigns involve ship combat.
Sky Swim: Largely useless unless you’re playing a Merman or something.
Slave to Sin: [Emotion], [mind-affecting], new save every round. Pass.
Soul Vault: Possession effects are, mercifully, uncommon.
Spellcurse: Weak damage that’s reliant on enemies self-buffing.
Spiral Ascent: Just cast shield of wings and fly, ya dingus!
Spotlight: Better to cast see invisibility or similar.
Steal Years: Not really a buff or a debuff. More...party trick.
Storm of Blades: With no SR or save allowed, it’s a pretty good single-target blast, but you’d be better off shooting someone with a bow.
Stunning Barrier, Greater: Deflection and resistance bonuses. The save DC just won’t cut it as you level, and the bonuses to AC and saves will be obviated by magical items that everyone gets.
Summon Ancestral Guardian: Spiritual weapon is good because it deals force damage. This spell can’t even manage that.
Summon Totem Creature: Shoanti only. Not demonstrably better than summon monster III.
Symbol of Exsanguination: NPC or trap spell, mostly because it features an expensive material component and affects teammates as well as enemies.
Symbol of Healing: Decent for blinging out your demiplane, but not as an everyday spell.
Tactical Formation: Deflection bonuses won’t be in fashion for adventurers.
Teratoid Caress: Evil, evil, evil, and not all that powerful.
Transfer Regeneration: For monsters, not men.
Trial by Fire: Weak damage.
Trial of Fire and Acid: As above.
Unlife Current: When would you…?
Unravel Destiny: Are the monsters using Hero Points?
Vision of Hell: Targets teammates.
Wall of Split Illumination: If only you could see through the wall, you could position yourselves in darkness and enemies in bright light for easy ranged combat. Except...you can’t see through. Womp womp.
Waters of Lamashtu: It’s not strictly bad. Expensive and almost laughably evil, though…
Wrathful Mantle: Resistance bonus, hence superseded by cloaks of resistance.
Baphomet’s Blessing: Brutal spell vs. enemy Alchemists, Witches, Wizards, Magi, Arcanists, etc. Their INT score is now 2—who cares if they’ve got a gore attack?
Blessing of Fervor: Faaaantastic team buff. Y’all come get some.
Debilitating Portent: You read that right: no save. This spell is an absolutely top-notch debuff, especially against big melee bruisers with poor Will saves. Turn all that weakness of mind into weakness of body, and save your team in the process.
Divine Power: Luck bonus. Melee- and STR-based Oracles (Dragon, Ascetic, Battle, etc.) have precisely zero excuses for not taking this excellent buff. Get out and deal thy damage.
Freedom of Movement: Patently awesome for all squishy characters, and quite a few non-squishies, as well. Immunity to a huge range of common debuffing tactics is amazing, and one of the primary reasons why grapple-specialized builds have such a hard time in later life.
Restoration: One of those classic Cleric spells that everyone expects from divine casters.
Sending: Some spells open whole new vistas of possibility in Pathfinder: teleportation, flight, the like. Faster than light, transplanar communication certainly belongs on that list of gamechangers. Receive more instructions from a quest giver, contact someone in their own demiplane, check in with the soul of a dead buddy in the Boneyard...the options are limitless.
Spiritual Ally: Standard action casting time, swift action movement, [force] damage for DR penetration and incorporeals, flanking and AoOs, flight, immunity to weapon damage. Whew. There’s a lot going on here, all of it good. SR and dispel magic are the only two things common enough to pose a threat to your spiritual ally, who can be your surrogate on the battlefield if you’re a casting-focused Oracle.
Summon Monster IV: Hound Archons and the various Elementals are standouts at this level. Summon [Alignment] Monster is still a very useful feat for expanding your summoning portfolio.
Traveling Dream: Children and animals are rare in the adventuring life, so get ready for invisible Divination magic for hours per level as you sleep! Fantastic for scouting out dungeons, keeping tabs on marked targets, etc.
Wall of Bone: It’s not the sturdiest thing on God’s green earth, but it’ll tangle up mooks and has a decent CMB score. Walls and pits are always useful.
Wrathful Weapon: Oracles who intend to deal damage in melee should sit up and take note of how flexible this spell is. The weapon qualities listed deal 2d6 damage and bypass DR/Alignment on a hit. What are you waiting for?
Air Walk: Say goodbye to difficult terrain! But you’re using a flight Revelation or shield of wings by now, right?
Aura of Doom: Shaken gives a flat -2 to saves, which is perfect for a full caster. Didn’t fail their save? Move out of range, then back in to force a second one.
Bit of Luck: Catfolk only. Great, flexible bonuses to attacks and skill checks. And Catfolk are even good Oracles!
Brightest Light: I guess the hours/level duration would be worth it for me. Cast it on a short sword, keep it sheathed, then go full Sting when you need to.
Calamitous Flailing: Solid B+ debuff vs. melee bruisers, especially those with reach.
Dimensional Anchor: Enemy casters, Outsiders, etc. love to jump around, flee via teleportation, and generally harass the average adventuring party. Dimensional anchor makes it that much easier to lock them down and kill them the old-fashioned way.
Enchantment Foil: Untyped bonus. Enchantments suck. At hours/level, this spell can make you far hardier for most of an adventuring day than you would have been otherwise.
Flame Steed: Oracles and Clerics don’t get access to phantom steed, a pretty excellent travel ability. They do, however, get access to flame steed, which beefs up your riding cow’s defenses and gives you a panic button if you get attacked. Pretty good!
Fleshworm Infestation: At the very least, you get to sicken an enemy with a touch for rounds/level; that’s behind the power curve for a 4th-level spell. At the very most, though, you’re dealing a looot of DEX damage and staggering the enemy, which prevents full attacks and forces casters into bad decision-making territory. Versatile, if evil.
Hallucinogenic Smoke: What a strange spell! Part crowd control, part Divination, and all oracular. Nauseated for rounds/level will end encounters, although you have to watch out for oral cancer with the material component. Note that the [poison] descriptor means it’ll be ineffective against many Outsiders, Undead, Constructs, etc.
Healing Flames: Don’t come for the damage, come for the area healing that’s better than any mass cure spell.
Iron Spine: With no save, iron spine is absolutely brutal against Fey, some Demons and Devils, etc. No-save nauseated if they move at all? Yes yes yes.
Mighty Strength: Enhancement bonus. Even physical stat belts can’t get up to +8, so there’ll always be a place for mighty strength at the table.
Path of Glory, Greater: Your go-to spell for out-of-combat group healing.
Protection from Energy, Communal: Otherwise known as “a shit ton of damage averted.” Never goes out of style.
Purify Body: It’s a heal, restoration, and condition removal spell, all rolled into one. That’s plenty versatile for our purposes.
Shield of Fortification, Greater: Sure, I’ll bite. It’ll keep people from getting splattered by melee bruisers.
Spellcrash, Lesser: Casters run on spell slots, so draining those slots is a great way to burn them out. Note that there’s no initial save, so you get one spell lost for free. If you’ve got a decent way of tanking Will saves (say, mathematical curse) that can quickly add up into more.
Summon Accuser: With at-will invisibility and the ability to relate incredible amounts of information in the blink of an eye, Zebubs are excellent spies. Do note that those who take the Summon Evil Monster feat (and any Evil-aligned Oracles interested in summoning should!) will get access to the Accuser Devil as part of summon monster IV. This spell lasts for 10 minutes/level, though, so it still has its niche for lengthier surveillance operations.
Terrible Remorse: [Mind-affecting], [emotion], and the constraint of a living target are troublesome, but if you manage to land this on a big bad melee fighter, he’ll take himself down in a hurry.
Warp Metal: Think about how many things are made from metal. Mailboxes, that’s one. My grandpa’s shin bones, that’s another. Enemy weapons, that’s three. You get the picture: lots of opportunities for shenanigans.
Blood Crow Strike: Good buff for Ascetic Oracles, or for an allied Monk. Flavor seems...flavorful.
Bountiful Banquet: Okay QoL spell.
Control Water: Skull & Shackles, Ruins of Azlant, etc. might want a piece of the action. No one else.
Crimson Breath: Breath of the Mantis God is a good poison, albeit slow-acting. In combat situations, you’ll want the juice right away.
Crusader’s Edge: Surprisingly good for Battle Oracles, especially in campaigns like Wrath of the Righteous. Others probably won’t be interested.
Death Knell Aura: Death knell is a good spell, but requires action input in the crucial moments of a fight in order to get it. The aura version just kinda does it for you. It’s still not the best, but free buffing is free buffing.
Flaming Aura: The (Fire) subtype grants you immunity to fire, which is the only reason you should use this spell. The damage from a second casting is waaay too small to be worth it.
Flesh Puppet Horde: Only for Bones or Juju Oracles.
Frosty Aura: As flaming aura above.
Imbue with Spell Ability: Great for giving martial characters limited self-healing or protection abilities.
Magic Weapon, Greater: Other PCs will be investing wealth into better weapons, so it won’t always be relevant. If those weapons get stolen or sundered, though…
Mark of the Reptile God: Minor debuff that stacks with sickened or shaken. Don’t expect the CHA damage to give you the lizard effect unless you’re content to wait for a month.
Planar Ally, Lesser: I’m not the biggest fan of the planar ally spells, mostly because of the long casting time and expensive material components. They can accomplish things on a timescale that summon monster can’t touch, though, and that’s their advantage in certain situations.
Rags to Riches: Versatile enough to make for some good team buffing.
Revenant Armor: What a cool spell! I can see people falling into two camps on this one. On the one hand, sure, the armor will get you out of trouble if you fall unconscious. On the other hand, enemies tend to attack whatever moves, and might actually kill you when you were only knocked out. Consider which kind of GM you have!
Shadow Barbs: It’s a cool spell, and having a scaling magical weapon that can be conjured in an instant is no joke. Pity it’s rounds/level, though.
Shield Speech, Greater: As with its baby brother, potentially good in intrigue campaigns.
Summon Barghest I: Barghests are hard to pin down with blink, misdirection, dimension door, etc., but they don’t hit particularly hard, even with the two free growth points. Wait for summon barghest II. (Fun etymology fact: the word barghest comes from a combination of two German words, “berg” + “geist,” or “mountain ghost.”)
Summon Cacodaemon, Greater: Summoning this many cacodaemons can really let you produce a lot of soul gems, which can be bartered or sacrificed to greater planar entities, if you’re evilly inclined. Other than that, cacodaemons are weak and of little use in combat.
Summon Genie, Lesser: Jann are decent fighters with innate flight and the ability to plane shift you and your teammates earlier than normal. Still, the spell is among the weaker summons at 4th level.
Transplant Visage: Yes, this is the spell that the Faceless Men know...and it’s just as cool as it is in GoT. Evil, apparently—who knew? Could be of great use in an intrigue game.
Umbral Infusion: For Bones or Juju Oracles.
Ward Shield: If you’ve got a shield user on the team, why not?
Ardor’s Onslaught: An opening nuke before anyone gets into close range, because it affects teammates, as well.
Absolution: Got a mind-controlled friend? Not anymore, you don’t.
Absorb Rune I: Maaaybe as a scroll. Even as a scroll, how often do you run into rune magic?
Anti-Incorporeal Shell: This spell has no other applications except fighting incorporeals, but it does what it does very well. Still too niche for a spell known.
Bestow Planar Infusion II: The third iteration is the best, obviously, but who knows, you might get up to planar hijinks before then.
Blade of Light: Great against Undead, but again, that’s only situational.
Celestial Healing, Greater: Don’t make a scroll of this spell—the healing isn’t better than infernal healing, nap stack, or even cure light wounds for the cost. Do use it if you find a scroll, though.
Chaos Hammer: As with all the alignment-based nuke spells, best if you’re fighting aligned Outsiders, and only as an opening gambit.
Concealed Breath: Good team-based defense against inhaled effects.
Cure Critical Wounds: As with celestial healing, don’t turn your nose up if you find a scroll, but remember that other healing is more cost-effective.
Death Ward: Extremely valuable when fighting Undead. Keep it in mind.
Dismissal: I’d rather have dimensional anchor for my money, but if you need to get rid of an add in a hurry, dismissal ain’t bad. Occurs infrequently enough that a scroll will do.
Divination: Oracles that are meant to focus on Divination magic (Lore Oracles, e.g.) already have Revelations in place to let them emulate divination. It’s still a pretty good spell, though, balancing low material cost with a low chance of non-actionable intel.
Gilded Whispers: There may well come a time when this spell is very useful.
Glimpse of Truth: True seeing is so, so much better, but when you need it, you need it.
Holy Smite: See chaos hammer. The best of the alignment-based nukes, simply because of the preponderance of Good-aligned PCs.
Infernal Healing, Greater: See greater celestial healing. The 1st-level variant of infernal healing is more cost-effective.
Janni’s Jaunt: Your first foray into planar travel. Go ahead and leave the Outer Planes alone for now—you’ll head there soon enough.
Make Whole, Greater: Your go-to spell for recovering from a sundering gone wrong.
Neutralize Poison: Poisons can get very bad, very fast. Always have a scroll on hand.
Order’s Wrath: See chaos hammer and holy smite.
Planar Adaptation: Certainly a must if you’re going to be doing any planar adventuring.
Planetary Adaptation: As the planar version above, necessary if you’re going planet-hopping.
Positive Pulse, Greater: If you even have an inkling that there are negative levels or energy drain about, pop it quick.
Probe History: Can’t think where else to put this. It’s unusual and niche.
Red Hand of the Killer: If you’re solving a murder mystery? Sure.
Ride the Waves: For all those aquatic campaigns you’re dying to run.
Sacrifice: Planar entities are dangerous to mess with, but significantly less dangerous to mess with if you butcher some innocents beforehand.
Speak with Haunt: Haunts can be nuisances, horrifying traps, and occasionally valuable sources of information. Speak with haunt lets you lean on that last item.
Summon Ship: Ha-haaaarrrrrr!
Tongues: You know tongues, bro! This spell is pretty excellent, and should maybe be a candidate for permanency. A scroll will do you well enough, though.
Unholy Blight: See holy smite, chaos hammer, etc.
Water Walk, Communal: Remember, it’s more about avoiding difficult terrain than it is about walking on water.
Abyssal Vermin: Can’t get access to swarms under your control very easily.
Alter River: Say hello to my friend the Yangtze.
Ancestral Gift: Carry your own weapon. Don’t rely on a 4th-level spell.
Battle Trance: Huge penalties to casting, and 4 INT damage, right off the bat. Hell to the no.
Bereave: Interesting effect, but overly specific to see play every day.
Black Spot: Pirate flavor aside, there’s nothing remarkable here.
Bloatbomb: Weak, weak damage.
Borrow Corruption: No good for you.
Burst With Light: Use daylight or brightest light for light effects, not this.
Charon’s Dispensation: Highly niche effect unless you’re traveling regularly in Abaddon.
Conditional Curse: Doesn’t do anything that bestow curse couldn’t. The increased DC isn’t really worth the spell level.
Control Summoned Creature: Even if the target fails their save, you still won’t have the Spellcraft skill necessary to maintain control for long—INT is likely to be a dump stat.
Create Drug: Fun as it would be to make it to 7th level and then just open your own opium den, you have better uses of spells known.
Curse Terrain: Can’t imagine you’d ever want to. More of an NPC spell.
Curse of Unexpected Death: Unexpected death, my foot. More like “unexpectedly minor amount of damage, given the misleadingly powerful name.”
Daemon Ward: Too specific.
Deadman’s Contingency: Far more limited than contingency.
Deathless: In addition to being a Mythic spell, deathless has way too short of a duration to make it useful. If an ally gets dropped below their CON in the negatives, the spell could still expire and kill them before you get a chance to heal. Minutes/level would have been far more effective in this context.
Devil Snare: “Start a fire...but...but there’s no wood!” “Are you mad!? Are you a witch or not, Hermione?” All HP references aside, I’d rather have dismissal and dimensional anchor, both of which are more versatile.
Discern Lies: Hopefully someone on your team will be good at Sense Motive, but it won’t be you. Leave this role to the Inquisitor.
False Future: Eh, this is more along the lines of something a Wizard would do.
Film of Filth: Not really for PCs.
Firewalker’s Meditation: Hugely expensive material component for DR that enemies will blow right through and fire resistance that resist energy can do better. Pass.
Forceful Strike: It’ll deal with incorporeals, for sure, but you have spells at lower levels that will do it just as well.
Foretell Failure: Maybe good for...disarming traps, or something? Which you’ll never do? If someone has a good use for this spell, I’m all ears.
Frigid Souls: Overly specific.
Giant Vermin: You can’t dismiss the spell before its duration expires, so get ready for those vermin to be turnin’ on you.
Gift of the Deep: Sahuagin-only spell, which ain’t you.
Globe of Tranquil Water: There are better tools for dealing with these conditions.
Guardian of Faith: “Instead of casting two 1st-level spells, why don’t we cast a 4th-level spell?” said no one, ever. Seriously, though, protection from evil and shield of faith both have very common bonus types that PCs will absolutely have replicated through magical items by the time you get to this spell.
Healing Warmth: As with guardian of faith and my marriage, kind of mashes two things together that are better apart. (That’s my bleak joke, kids. My marriage is pretty great.)
Heavy Water: Aquatic combat is mercifully rare.
Hunger for Flesh: Any effect that could result in allies attacking each other is a no-go.
Inflict Critical Wounds: Back away very slowly.
Infuse Effigy: More of an NPC spell.
Instant Restoration: More germane to Summoners’ interests than to yours. For you, summons are just meat shields.
Magic Circle Against Technology: Way too niche.
Majestic Image: Fun fact: the finale of Mozart’s Don Giovanni is just the Commendatore using majestic image on a statue. The More You Know. Goes without saying that this is a pretty niche spell, useful only for gulling commoners.
Malediction: Maledizioooooooooneeeeeee! Nah, but this isn’t really for you.
Master’s Escape: I’d recommend grace if you often get into tight spots on the battlefield.
Mythic Severance: You probably don’t fight many Mythic enemies, thankfully.
Nature’s Ravages: When would you want this effect?
Oracle’s Vessel: No matter what your Curse is, there are more effective debuffs elsewhere.
Persistent Vigor: Weakish grab-bag of resistances to conditions.
Plague Carrier: Diseases are problems for PCs, not enemies.
Poison: Fort negates each round. Bad news when Fortitude is the strongest save by level.
Poisonous Balm: Intrigue, indeed. I’m not saying it’s terrible, just that you’d be hard-pressed to use it even as a scroll.
Quieting Weapons: Only if you’ve got an allied Gunslinger on the team.
Remove Radioactivity: Not unless you’re journeying in the Darklands.
Repel Vermin: 2d6 damage at 7th level? Oh, no! However will an enemy fight through such overwhelming pain?
Replenish Ki: Only if you’ve got an allied Monk or Ninja on the team.
Rest Eternal: Carrion Crown only.
Rigor Mortis: Penalties are far too lenient at this level.
Shield of the Dawnflower: Fire damage is commonly resisted, and this damage is small.
Soothe Construct: Does anyone play with berserk Construct rules? I don’t even know ‘em.
Speak with Plane: Never run across a sentient plane. Hm.
Spell Immunity: Casters have enough spells that they can afford to destroy you creatively.
Spindrift Spritz, Mass: Even more minor conditions at this level, in exchange for a maaajor spell slot.
Spit Venom: The [poison] descriptor is too restrictive, and the effect is fairly weak.
Summoner Conduit: Way niche.
Suppress Primal Magic: Primal magic is rare, thank goodness.
Sword to Snake: Complicated, but the real nail in the coffin is that it affects only Medium and smaller items. Most enemies that you wind up fighting will be Large, at least.
Symbol of Revelation: NPC spell, thanks to the huge material cost.
Symbol of Slowing: As above.
Tail Current: Hustling rules aren’t common at any table I’ve been a part of.
Tailwind: Slightly more useful than tail current, but only just.
Thaumaturgic Circle: Not much better than magic circle.
Torpid Reanimation: Animate dead is better for PCs.
Undeath Inversion: Weak effect even if you were a Cleric.
Unholy Ward: Evil-aligned campaigns are rare outside of Hell’s Vengeance.
Virulence: Diseases work too slowly to be of use in combat; virulence doesn’t change that calculus.
Ward of the Season: Elf only. Fun flavor, unreliable effects.
Water Shield: Ah, just cast resist energy.
Wave Form: As a 4th-level spell, I’m just not impressed.
Break Enchantment: The “I Win” button against just about any permanent curse, polymorph, etc. Good stuff for a spontaneous caster.
Cleanse: Kind of like a juiced-up version of purity of body. It’ll keep you going in hard times.
Curse, Major: I love curse effects. Cursey cursey curse. Curse all my enemies. Curse into my tummy. Close range instead of touch is a nice little upgrade.
Heretic’s Tongue: Complete annihilation against other casters, who need to either not cast (for the full duration of the spell) or not cast, gain the paralyzed condition, and potentially give the shaken condition to allies (for half the duration of the spell). What a bad choice for them! There’s some Geryon flavor, so always check with your GM. Or, ya know, worship Geryon.
Righteous Might: Faaantastic spell for melee Oracles. Y’all know why.
Smite Abomination: I don’t care that it’s useful only against Undead—getting a Paladin’s Smite as a spell is far too good to pass up. Heavenly for melee attackers.
Spell Resistance: Will saves don’t matter if casters can’t get through your SR. A must in any fight involving enemy casters, especially because some spells that allow no save do allow Spell Resistance.
Summon Monster V: It’s almost exclusively extraplanar creatures from here on out, and that’s a good thing. Never a bad investment of a spell known.
True Seeing: The only—and I mean only—downside to true seeing is the material component cost. Otherwise, it’s your ticket out of all kinds of nasty situations involving illusions, concealment, magical darkness, invisibility, shapeshifting, etc. Really hard to beat.
Wall of Clockwork: Much stronger than a wall of stone, but with more shape constraints and some added damage. Probably your go-to for landlocked enemies.
Wall of Stone: Weaker but more versatile than wall of clockwork.
Ancestral Memory: A great multi-purpose spell for any Oracle, but support Oracles like those with the Lore Mystery will want it particularly.
Angelic Aspect: Just as good as lesser angelic aspect, which is to say, quite good. Flight, DR, and the ability to penetrate DR/Alignment are welcome additions.
Army Across Time: Great flanking and aid another bonuses. It’s better for classes like Inquisitors that get oodles of Teamwork feats, but there you have it.
Boneshatter: Yeah, that’s not a bad blast! Fortitude partial is what we’re looking for.
Breath of Life: Your first resurrection effect, and it’s a hard one to use; at this level, however, it’s all you’ve got. Get there fast.
Caustic Blood: Acid resistance isn’t too common even with advancing levels, and melee-based Oracles will probably get hit enough to make the spell worthwhile.
Dispel [Alignment]: You’ll need to pick one, so...Evil?
Fickle Winds: The problem with wind wall is that it doesn’t travel with you particularly well; the problem with fickle winds is that projectile attacks become increasingly rare with levels. Pretty even toss-up, I guess?
Forbid Action, Greater: Forbid action is a real stinker: one enemy, one round, save negates. The greater version doesn’t change that last part, but it makes your forbidden action last much longer, and you can tag multiple enemies. The text doesn’t say that enemies get a new save every round. Open season!
Geniekind: Quite the versatile spell! The bonuses from the base effect are great, and then you get to add some novel movement modes as a cherry on top. I only wish the duration were minutes/level.
Holy Ice: Battlefield control or blast is a nice touch. Double-duty spells are always good for spontaneous casters.
Sand Whirlwind, Greater: I don’t think the increased area gets you a lot of benefit over sand whirlwind, but it’s still a good spell.
Siphon Magic: You’d be trying to dispel enemy buffs anyway, so why not give them to yourself? Of particular interest to Dragon Mystery Oracles and other magehunters.
Summon Ceustodaemon: Obviously evil, but ceustodaemons are pretty good tanks who are outright immune to a boatload of conditions.
Summon Infernal Host: Another solid evil summon.
Summon Lesser Demon: Aaaaand another!
Wall of Blindness/Deafness: Attacks and vision pass as normal, which makes the wall a threat only if creatures attempt to move through. Even if they do, Fortitude negates; they’ll probably pass at this level. Still good, but not as good as it may seem at first blush.
Air Walk, Communal: Kinda like communal fly, and still pretty good for martial teammates.
Appearance of Life, Greater: Bones and Juju Oracles will enjoy the ability to disguise one of their minions as anyone.
Daywalker: For Bones and Juju Oracles.
Flame Strike: It gets a lot of play, but it’s not very special in terms of damage, saves, or effects. Flame or Volcano Oracles might have invested enough to make it worthwhile.
Hunter’s Blessing: Sacred bonus, which is common enough to be superseded at this level.
Invigorating Repose: Breath of life shouldn’t be your first choice of resurrection magic, primarily because of the one-round limitation on the effect. You’d hate to burn slots on invigorating repose every day, but it might be necessary if you’ve got teammates who enjoy death.
Life Bubble: Nice little grab-bag of goodies here in life bubble, including antidotes to many common caster tactics.
Respectful Quiet: It could be either a buff or a debuff, but either way, 5th level is pretty steep.
Scrying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer with Divination magic!
Spellcasting Contract, Lesser: Asmodeus only, Profane bonus. Not only does it help your teammates, it also provides you with some great defensive buffs. Why not?
Summon Genie: Djinni aren’t the best summons at this level, but summons are summons.
Summon Lesser Psychopomp: Esoboks are quite good against Undead, but Nosoi aren’t great at this level.
Unholy Ice: Combats against Good-aligned creatures are vanishingly rare.
Unleash Pandemonium: No-save, no-SR deafened for concentration + 1d4 rounds is quite the package. Casters in particular won’t like you for it.
Astral Projection, Lesser: You’re limited to the Astral Plane, where not much happens. The 9th-level version is probably what you’re looking for.
Atonement: For when your Paladin looks at someone the wrong way one too many times.
Call Spirit: Similar to speak with dead.
Cold Iron Fetters: Clearly meant to deal with Fey, Demons, and Devils.
Commune: Divination magic is readily accessible through many Mysteries, but if you want the good stuff, commune is it.
Disrupting Weapon: Utterly owns Undead, which can come in handy on occasion.
Dungeonsight: I’d recommend traveling dream instead.
Freedom’s Toast: Damn it all, but Cayden Cailean gets the best feats and spells. I mean, have you even seen Drunken Sing-Along? Crazy stuff. Anyway, if you need to get an ally out of a sticky situation, freedom’s toast is pretty great. Freedom of movement will probably fit best in most situations, though.
Hallow: Cleric-fodder, really, but you could get a scroll if you wanted one.
Mark of Justice: Hell of a deterrent. It probably won’t come up much.
Plane Shift: Now here’s where the hijinks really get started! Plane shift opens up whooole new avenues of exploration for you and the team, although the Wizard of the group will probably take care of it more often than you.
Raise Dead: Now your first real resurrection outside of breath of life. You’d hate to need it, but chances are good that you will need it at some point.
Reprobation: It’s a hell of an effect, but PCs don’t often wind up in conflict with members of their own faith.
Spawn Ward: Dhampir only. It’s a good effect anyway.
Sphere of Warding: Good anti-incorporeal tool.
Undeath Ward: And an anti-Undead tool, which may have significant overlap with sphere of warding.
Unhallow: Here as a counterpoint to hallow, but probably used significantly less often.
Awaken the Devoured: Pretty frickin’ powerful against Daemons, but how many of those do you run into?
Ban Corruption: And how often do you use corruption rules?
Blood Tentacles: You’ve got many better sources of damage than blood tentacles.
Blood Ties: Evil, evil, evil. Not to mention pretty pointless.
Burst of Glory: Sacred bonus. What are you going to do with a +1 at this level?
Charnel House: Weak effect unless you’re RPing as Professor Slughorn from the beginning of Half-Blood Prince.
Cleansing Fire: Not so many [evil] spells out there, and the damage is paltry.
Command, Greater: A little better than its younger sibling, but not by much.
Commune with Plane: Of small use as a spell known or a scroll.
Compel Tongue, Mass: You’ve got tongues. Why bother?
Compelling Rant: Wisdom drain? Nooope.
Constricting Coils: Weak damage.
Contact Entity III: So frickin’ evil it hurts. And jeez, leave these forces well enough alone!
Contagion, Greater: At this level, nearly everything will have access to healing magic that could make a disease go away.
Cure Light Wounds, Mass: Healing flames or nap stack are much better mass healing spells.
Curse of Magic Negation: Spellblights can be recreated using bestow curse or major curse, so no need to get this. Just grab major curse and be on your way.
Darkvault: Weird effect, and where the heck are you going to find a rock that has never seen sunlight?
Decollate: Ichabooood. Ichabooood. Nah, just kidding. Pass.
Flexile Curse: Curses need to be quick and brutal in order to make them worthy choices for PCs—slow and steady only works for enemies.
Ghostbane Dirge, Mass: Bleeech.
Greater Reversion: Grab second chance instead.
Half-Blood Extraction: If you ever wanted to take someone’s racial identity from them...well, don’t. That’s cruel and unnecessary.
Hasten Judgment: Weak effect.
Heroic Fortune, Mass: Hero Points don’t make it to every table.
Hymn of Mercy: Still reliant on failed saves.
Inflict Light Wounds, Mass: Blergh.
Insect Plague: What’s the point of this when the swarms can’t move? I never understood.
Jungle Mind: Only one type of animal, and the scrying effect reduces to rounds/level.
Khain’s Army: Ghouls and ghasts are super weak at this level.
Lend Path: Mythic, AKA not for everyone.
Lighten Object, Mass: When would you…?
Locate Gate: Real PF players open gates, they don’t find them like hobos.
Magic Siege Engine, Greater: Prepare your greatest trebuchet memes! (And then don’t pick this spell.)
Pillar of Life: Quantifiably worse than healing flames.
Planeslayer’s Call: Far too tame.
Profane Nimbus: Evil characters only, and weak damage.
Rapid Repair: Not unless you got into Construct crafting.
Reboot: Construct-only effects are niche.
Sacred Nimbus: As bad as profane nimbus.
Sanctify Weapons: Communal align weapon is a 3rd-level spell. Why are you using this?
Sawtooth Terrain: Small area, weak effect.
Seek Shelter: Telling people to seek shelter will do just as well, and won’t require a Will save.
Serenity: A lot of immunities to nonlethal damage and [emotion] or [mind-affecting] effects out there. Weak.
Sessile Spirit: Only of use against enemy Mediums, Spiritualists, etc.
Shroud of Darkness: The tricks that worked at earlier levels are becoming easier and easier for enemies to negate. This is one such trick.
Slay Living: You’ve already got multiple spells that scale up to 15d6, including boneshaker at 2nd level! What are you doing!?
Slough: Fortitude negates, which is trouble, and [evil].
Snake Staff: You need access to wood…a lot of wood. Stick with summon monster.
Soulswitch: Oracles don’t get easy access to familiars.
Spell Immunity, Communal: Not better than the single-target one.
Spellsteal: Just not powerful enough for 5th level.
Steal Power: Mythic rules.
Steal Years, Greater: Useless effect.
Sun’s Disdain, Mass: Hard to exploit.
Symbol of Pain: Expensive material cost, along with a lengthy casting time. Pass.
Symbol of Scrying: As above.
Symbol of Sleep: As above.
Symbol of Striking: Your symbol can’t move, so spiritual ally or any of the summon monster choices is better.
Tongues, Communal: Only one person needs to communicate, usually.
Touch of Slumber: No offensive applications.
Treasure Stitching: Obviated by bags of holding.
Untold Wonder: Guards against a narrow subcategory of spell effects.
Vile Dog Transformation: Man, talk about animal cruelty.
Village Veil: Halfling only. Enemies bent on destroying entire villages probably have the Will saves necessary to disbelieve the effect.
Waft: Gathlain only, and who’s played one of those?
Wall of Ectoplasm: Incorporeal enemies can and will just go around the ectoplasm. They can move through walls, remember?
Animate Objects: Versatility, power, and damage/defense that function independently of your action input. What more do you want?
Blade Barrier: Kind of a souped-up version of wall of clockwork, dealing more damage and penetrating DR. Oh, and it’s unbreakable except via disintegrate or somesuch.
Dimensional Blade: Every attack can hit when it targets Touch AC! Between the swift action cast and great effect, dimensional blade makes a marvelous spell known for melee Oracles who don’t want to bother targeting saves.
Dispel Magic, Greater: As versatile and powerful as its little sibling.
Dust Form: Just as dimensional blade is great for combat Oracles, dust form is great for casting Oracles, who aren’t slowed down at all by taking a penalty to weapon damage and can reap great defensive benefits from being incorporeal.
Geas/Quest: A lot of riders, etc. etc., but no save to turn an enemy into your puppet for two weeks or more.
Heal: Here’s your heal spell known, at long last. Incredibly powerful, and even functions as a decent nuke against Undead.
Source Severance: It’s antimagic field, but more specific. Highly recommended for Anticaster builds.
Summon Monster VI: Shouldn’t need any introduction by now.
Wall of Silver: Blinding Evil creatures is good, as is stopping evil effects and spells. We like walls here.
Antilife Shell: Could be a top-shelf defensive power for casting-focused Oracles who don’t want to get mauled if a melee bruiser makes it to the back line, but you’ll have to see how your GM rules on a couple of questions. Can weapons wielded by such creatures pass through? Can creatures with natural reach pass through?
Banishment: Planar threats get more and more prevalent as levels roll by, so you really do want an effective means of handling them. Taking your time to gather a few items to bump the spell save DC and SR penetration will really help out in the long run.
Chains of Light: Nearly all casters (and certainly all Outsiders) at this level have extradimensional travel of some stripe available to them, and will teleport away if the going gets tough. A save still negates, and they get a new one every round, but no SR, and Reflex is the weakest of the saves going into high levels. My take is that it’s worth it.
Eaglesoul: The bonuses—even those that you gain when you go Super Saiyan—are fairly small at this level, but at least last a nice long time.
Elemental Assessor: No save and targets Touch AC, with great damage—potentially 24d6 in the target’s weakest element. Nice single-target blast that even non-casting Oracles can get behind.
Emblem of Greed: Unusual in that you use your caster level as your BAB, which opens up more iteratives, etc. The glaive is an awesome weapon, too! Melee Oracles might want this quite often; for casting Oracles it’ll be an emergency power, if anything.
Harm: Powerful, with none of the vicissitudes of dice rolls. Bones and Juju Oracles will want it for healing their minions.
Hellfire Ray: Maximum of 45d6 damage. Oof, that’s hefty. Also allows no save, which is peachy. Evil evil, but there you have it.
Invoke Deity: Some great powers here, but check with your GM about how Domains interact with Oracles.
Sign of Wrath: Reflex save is good, half damage is good, [force] effects never go out of style. Bull Rush might not accomplish much at this level against enormous targets, but that’s mostly a perk.
Spellcrash: As with the lesser version, a great way to run down the clock against other casters, especially if you’ve got the means to tank their Will save.
Wind Walk: Absent overland flight, wind walk is the next best thing.
Word of Recall: Just remember that you can’t teleport.
Bear’s Endurance, Mass: Enhancement bonuses are very common at this level, but CON specifically might squeeze into a gap in wondrous item coverage. Casters will have mental headbands in their casting stat, with a physical belt in DEX (probably—CON is also possible); martials will have mental headbands in their casting stat (if they’ve got any casting) or WIS (if they don’t) and a physical belt in STR or DEX, depending on the build. But CON usually gets left out, unless you’re such a moneybags that you can afford double- or triple-stat belts. So...maybe good?
Cold Ice Strike: The damage is nothing special at this level, with a save for half, SR, and pure elemental damage that is easily shut down by resistance or immunity to cold. What is interesting is the swift action casting time, which elevates the spell above the garbage heap. Not many blasts on the Cleric spell list, as you know.
Create Undead: Inherently evil, and inherently expensive. Best done if you’re a Juju or Bones Oracle, but probably not for anyone else.
Demon Dream: Holy cow, is it evil, but you can use it to progressively wear down known bosses before you ever fight them.
Discharge, Greater: Only for Iron Gods.
Flesh Wall: Only for Bones and Juju Oracles.
Genius Avaricious: The Mammon’s Mantle effect is particularly nice, giving you an untyped bonus to CHA for days on end. It’s evil and costly, but maybe worth your time.
Heroes’ Feast: I guess if you can spare the time for a lavish feast every morning?
Impart Mind: Man, what a weird and cool spell. You’re essentially gambling that you’ll get some super kick-ass at-will spell in your weapon that you can abuse, but you have to pony up for the chance.
Joyful Rapture: In-combat healing of ability damage to your mental stats. Could do worse.
Mage’s Decree: Not bad, but I prefer sending.
Minor Reversion, Mass: Decent insurance against crits for the whole team.
Owl’s Wisdom, Mass: Better Will saves and Perception checks never hurt anyone.
Planar Adaptation, Mass: At this level, you’ll definitely be exploring the planes. This spell does yeoman’s work preparing you for that challenge.
Planar Ally: Again, I’m not a huge fan of the planar ally spells, but they can accomplish things that summon monster can’t, so respect where respect is due.
Seer’s Bane: Good anti-Divination tool.
Summon Barghest II: Summons are better than no summons, but fairly weak at this level.
Summon Genie, Greater: As with Barghests, even the Shaitan isn’t that powerful.
Summon Vanth: Vanth Psychopomps have DR/Adamantine and wield adamantine scythes, so good if you need some DR penetrated. Otherwise, too restrictive.
Absorb Rune II: Again, how often do you run up against runes?
Blessing of Luck and Resolve, Mass: Halfling only. Keep a scroll handy, perhaps, in case you run up against an enemy with powerful fear effects at their disposal.
Bloodsworn Retribution: Morale bonus. Imagine getting a +5 to attacks, saves, and skill checks! Crazy. You might want to keep this running more or less permanently, especially if you’ve got a high CON score.
Commune with Texts: Hard to imagine the scenario, but it’s a scroll if it’s anything.
Curse of the Outcast: If you want to destroy someone’s life indefinitely, here’s your spell. No combat use, so it’s relegated to a starring role in Revenge on the Commoners: The Movie.
Dream Reality: Do some crimes, make your target forget ya did ‘em.
Find the Path: Keep a scroll on hand in case someone mazes you. That shit is not funny for someone who dumped INT.
Forbiddance: Sure, why not? Helps fortify demiplanes and other strongholds against Outsiders.
Knock, Mass: For when you need to open every door...ever made.
Neutralize Poison, Greater: The creature-targeted version of the spell doesn’t do better than neutralize poison, except perhaps in the save DC. It is good, however, for reversing catastrophic ability damage caused by poisons. Quick and easy.
Sarzari Shadow Memory: Praying to the Mantis God prepares you extraordinarily well to take down a BBEG.
Speak with Soul: Post-death interviews are always fun.
Truespeak: Aasimar only. Not a whole lot that couldn’t be accomplished with tongues or speak with animals.
Alaznist’s Jinx: Major curse can explicitly inflict a greater spellblight. Redundant.
Balance of Suffering: You’re looking at an average of about 50 HP healed if the opponent fails their save, about 25 HP if they pass, plus SR. Not really powerful enough to be thrilling, especially considering you get heal at this level.
Besmara’s Grasping Depths: Creatures you fight in the water at this level will all have some form of water breathing, which makes the spell more or less pointless.
Betraying Sting: Weak damage, and can’t target enemies.
Bless Army: When do you even play by these rules?
Bull’s Strength, Mass: As mass bear’s endurance, but far less universally useful. Casters won’t need it, and not even all martials will want it.
Contact Nalfeshnee: Any INT-based caster (Alchemist, Witch, Wizard) worth their salt will be crushing Knowledge checks by this level. So why are you piddling around with 1d4 INT/WIS/CHA drain every round?
Cruel Jaunt: Really more of a spell for those with fear auras, etc. You don’t have a great way to just cause fear, and even if you did, [mind-affecting] immunity is getting serious at this level.
Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass: You have so many better healing options.
Curse Terrain, Greater: Meant for NPC baddies.
Death Knell Aura, Greater: No real upgrade over death knell aura.
Dust Ward: Don’t disintegrate your own equipment!
Eagle’s Splendor: Unless you’re an entire party of Oracles and Sorcerers, no one will want extra CHA.
Epidemic: Fortitude negates for a variety of weak diseases.
Glyph of Warding, Greater: More Cleric fodder.
Hammer of Mending: Make whole is your go-to for item repair. This is only good if you have legions of constructs at your command.
Inflict Moderate Wounds, Mass: To quote Chuck, “What a sick joke!”
Inspiring Recovery: Tries to be a combo of breath of life or heal, and somehow fails at both.
Lash of the Astradaemon: A single negative level won’t do you a lick of good.
Metabolic Molting: Nagaji only, and nap stack does better.
Music of the Spheres: Enemies get the benefits, too.
Oasis: NPC Druid spell, and easily obviated by create water.
Overwhelming Poison: You won’t be using poison.
Perceive Betrayal: And all you have to do is walk around with a blood-soaked tiara on your head? What a deal?
Plague Bearer: Diseases are effective against PCs, but operate too slowly against enemies to be worth your time.
Plague Storm: As above.
Planetary Adaptation, Mass: As planar adaptation, but less likely.
Prognostication: 8-hour casting time and decreasing accuracy start to make spells like prognostication and true prognostication less and less useful.
Shield of the Dawnflower, Greater: Weak damage.
Source Severance: You’ll lose your own spells, which is a major no-no.
Summon Laborers: Not meant for PCs.
Summon Stampede: “The gorge! Simba’s down there!” Minimal damage unless you plow it through an invading army or something.
Sustaining Legend: Mythic rules.
Symbol of Distraction: Expensive.
Symbol of Fear: Same.
Symbol of Persuasion: Same.
Symbol of Sealing: Same.
Symbol of Death: Same.
Symbol of Storms: Same.
Undeath to Death: Can’t affect targets over 9 HD.
Vengeful Stinger: Requires you to get hit, and anyway, too much is immune to poison, ability damage, etc.
Vermicious Assumption: Sure, summon a CR 3 creature as a 6th-level spell. What do I know?
What Grows Within: It’s an NPC spell from Strange Aeons. Your GM shouldn’t let you have it.
Wither Limb: About the only use is targeting wings on creatures with fly speeds, but the Fortitude save and SR should ensure you never get that opportunity.
Bestow Curse, Greater: Still just as big of a “yup” as it’s always been. The 25% chance of acting normally option is particularly nasty. Can you imagine if, every six seconds for the rest of your life, you had a 75% chance of being absolutely paralyzed?
Maddening Oubliette: Damn, but that Zon-Kuthon flavor is tasty. That’s a hardcore debuff, but mind the full-round casting time—others might intervene if they know you’re winding up for something big.
Particulate Form: Marvelous team buff that renders you immune to many of the deadliest parts of high-level combat.
Spell Scourge: I’m not generally in favor of save-or-suck spells, but when enemy casters are going to be pre-buffing themselves to the gills, the possibility of stripping all that away in a single instant is tasty indeed.
Summon Monster VII: Yep yep yep.
Bestow Planar Infusion III: Planar adventures abound in the teens. Get you some.
Create Demiplane, Lesser: Welcome to Demiplanes 101, where you’ll learn how to create your own little extradimensional bungalow, far from the prying eyes of neighbors and divination magic. These spells only get better with age, so look forward to the normal and greater versions at 8th- and 9th-level.
Ethereal Jaunt: Good for progressing laterally past obstacles, fighting incorporeal enemies on their own turf, and panic buttoning out of hopeless fights.
Holy Word: Probably the most universally relevant alignment nuke out there, and pretty damn effective against CR - 1 creatures. It’s still not the greatest thing in the world, but it’ll do in a pinch.
Restoration, Greater: With such an expensive material component and so few 7th-level spells worth learning, you may as well pick it up.
Resurrection: As greater restoration.
Scrying, Greater: There’s no substitute if you want to observe a long-term target. At hours/level, you can afford to learn their every habit.
Arbitrament: The biggest, baddest dudes you can fight at this level are the Outsiders: Demons, Devils, Qlippoths, the like. In this respect, arbitrament fills a pretty crucial role of being able to both banish and debuff Outsiders, with good effects even if enemies pass a Will save. The debuff against creatures your level is pretty tame, though, and at CRs higher than your character level, arbitrament stops working entirely. It’ll mow through hordes of lower-level enemies, summons, etc., but won’t be good against the BBEG.
Morning Sun: You’ve got daylight, which should do in most scenarios.
Repulsion: I don’t like that a save negates entirely, but this is an “I Win” button against most martial-based enemies if they fail that save. Your call.
Spellcasting Contract: Asmodeus worshiper only, Profane bonus. Not only does it help your teammates, it also provides you with some great defensive buffs. Why not?
Vision of Lamashtu: Lamashtu worshiper only, which should take it off the table for just about everyone. Delievering touch-range curses as part of a nightmare, though? That’s stone cold cool.
Awaken Construct: Cool way to get a Construct cohort, but prohibitively expensive and probably not what most GMs will have in mind for their campaign.
Lost Legacy: Destroy a commoner’s life, permanently.
Lunar Veil: Maybe if you’re going after lycanthropes?
Memory of Function: A scroll, if it’s anything.
Planar Refuge: Safe traveling area for the entire team, although it’s worth thinking about how conspicuous you’ll be with a 100-ft. diameter sphere of vegetation moving with you at all times.
Pox of Rumors: Devastating in an intrigue game, I suppose, but irrelevant elsewhere.
Refuge: Can’t transport anyone to a demiplane, so that’s a limitation.
Regenerate: Create a scroll if anyone loses a limb. Otherwise, other healing does a better job.
Archon’s Trumpet: Fortitude saves are the highest with increasing level, and SR applies. Great effect; too hard to land.
Artificer’s Curse: As you get into these high levels, few enemies need magical equipment to slaughter you: it’s all SLAs, natural armor bonuses, (Su) or (Ex) abilities, etc. You can’t hold out hope that you’re going to run into an enemy that really needs that one weapon in order to be effective.
Bestow Grace of the Champion: Alignment restrictions and rounds/level duration ruin what would otherwise be a very good buff spell.
Blasphemy: Most likely you’re not Evil-aligned.
Circle of Clarity: Cast true seeing instead.
Contact Entity IV: Don’t try to contact these entities. You’ll be sorry you did.
Control Weather: You’ll be sheltering in your very own demiplane by the time 7th-level spells roll around. If you really want to control the weather, wait for wandering weather at 8th-level to at least make the effect move with you.
Create Variant Mummy: Where are you going to find a peat bog?
Cure Serious Wounds, Mass: Noooope.
Destruction: Immunity to death effects isn’t uncommon at high levels, and 10d6 on a passed save is much weaker than harm’s 75 damage. Just go with harm.
Dictum: Good or Evil is more universal.
False Resurrection: Eeeeevil. And when would you want to do this?
Frost Mammoth: Planar summons reign supreme at this level. Sorry, frost mammoth.
Grim Stalker: With a casting time of one minute, there’s no combat application here unless you lay some kind of “Whoops, I dropped my ring!” trap for enemies. Even so, [emotion, fear, mind-affecting] makes a lot of enemies immune, and the effect isn’t all that powerful.
Halfling Vengeance, Mass: For the all-Halfling party that wants to go Rogue.
Hunger for Flesh, Mass: As bad as its single-target variant.
Hymn of Peace: It’ll affect teammates, too. And I wonder, what’s the ruling on spells with this ability?
Inflict Serious Wounds, Mass: Blech.
Infuse Robot: Iron Gods only.
Jolting Portent: Resistance or immunity to electricity damage is a hard pass, and Fortitude saves are typically high.
Magnetic Field: I have an idea: why don’t we pull the scary monsters toward the squishy caster?
Plundered Power: Perform literal blood sacrifice to gain its effects. Nah.
Poison Breath: Short cone, Fort negates, SR applies, and [poison], which many enemies are immune to. About as bad as a 7th-level spell could get.
Signifier’s Rally: Does nothing that teleport couldn’t do.
Soul Transfer: A hugely expensive way to beat incorporeals.
Submerge Ship: Very niche.
Symbol of Stunning: For NPCs.
Symbol of Weakness: And again.
Terraform: Huge material component cost, and requires significant mythic ranks.
Umbral Strike: Another disappointing blast. Saves, low damage, removable condition. You get the idea.
Waves of Ecstasy: [Mind-affecting], SR, save only gives you one round of effect. You should be expecting way more from spells at this level.
Word of Chaos: As dictum.
Angelic Aspect, Greater: Phenomenal personal buff with a surprisingly good duration.
Antimagic Field: The magehunting tool to end all magehunting tools, antimagic field lets you get up close and personal with casters without them using all their little tricks. A Battle Oracle still knows his way around a sword, even without magic, so this spell will always find a niche for caster killers.
Divine Vessel: A truly unique Oracle-only spell, and holy shit, is it good. Melee attackers will obviously get more out of it, but everyone can benefit from immunities, resistances, and a shit-ton more HP. A must-have.
Euphoric Tranquility: No save to take someone out of the fight for rounds/level. I can’t think of any uses for that, can you?
Frightful Aspect: Divine vessel is superior in nearly all ways but duration, coming in at rounds/level where frightful aspect gets minutes/level. Both can probably find a home with combat-focused Oracles.
Holy Aura: Holy aura, Batman! Deflection and resistance bonuses will be old hat and easily superseded by this point, but SR is a bit more unusual, and the blindness appears to proc after every attack, permanently, at holy aura’s save DC. With enough iteratives, that’s bound to get anyone trying to hit you.
Nine Lives: Catfolk only, and lucky for you they’re an excellent Oracle race. Hours/level and some supremely flexible options make nine lives a true force to be reckoned with.
Summon Monster VIII: Still excellent.
Cloak of Chaos: Team buff makes it worth it, but you could probably get by just with holy aura.
Counterbalancing Aura: As cloak of chaos.
Create Demiplane: Now you can add your own castle, mountain hold, or forest enclave at no charge!
Heart of the Mammoth: You’ve got divine vessel and frightful aspect to take care of self-buffing, but this one is great for your martial pals.
Shield of Law: As cloak of chaos.
Spellcrash, Greater: Still decent for stripping casters of their tricks.
Tomb Legion: That’s a lot of CR 7 creatures.
Create Greater Undead: As usual, Bones and Juju only.
Death Clutch: Kalimaaa! Upgraded to yellow specifically for flavor. Fort saves are ungodly at this level, however, and immunity to death effects is quite common. That’s if your target even has a heart.
Dimensional Lock: More applicable to the creation of a safe demiplane, rather than against enemies. You’ve got dimensional anchor for targeted stuff.
Planar Ally, Greater: You know the dealio with these guys by now.
Quintessence Mastery: Some cool, powerful effects, but you’d need a staff from every plane you plan to use this spell on.
Summon Erodaemon/Meladaemon: Still good, don’t get me wrong, but you should really be taking summon monster VIII instead.
Umbral Infusion, Mass: I guess for Bones or Juju Oracles.
Wandering Weather: Does its work a bit better than control weather, but still situational.
Discern Location: May not come up very often.
Fey Gate: I guess if you wanted to go to the First World?
Rotting Alliance: This curse is incredibly difficult to break, and effectively prevents a group of people from ever meeting with each other unless they want to get some serious CON and CHA damage. Maybe of use in an intrigue game?
Soulseeker: I guess a scroll? Don’t know why you wouldn’t just use speak with dead or resurrection.
Call Construct: You probably won’t control many Constructs.
Cure Critical Wounds, Mass: Die, why won’t you die!?
Curse of Night: This is, like, a Tar-Baphon spell. Not a PC spell.
Curse Terrain, Supreme: As curse of night.
Earthquake: It certainly enters with a bang, but doesn’t succeed in doing much. The Reflex save DCs are very low for this level.
Fire Storm: Around 20% of enemies are immune to fire damage in the upper levels, with another 30% or so on top of that resisting. With a Reflex for half and only one damage type, what kind of hurt do you envision laying out with fire storm?
Inflict Critical Wounds, Mass: No.
Maw of Chaos: Hoo boy. Lot to unpack here.
Nature’s Ravages, Greater: Why would you…?
Orb of the Void: A save DC of 30 isn’t unheard of at 20th-level, but the median Fortitude save is 23. Not great odds for a single negative level.
Phasic Challenge: Focusing fire is almost always more effective than mano-a-mano combat.
Remove Radioactivity, Greater: Unlikely you’ll ever run into radiation.
Rift of Ruin: Nearly all enemies will be larger than Large or have innate flight at this level, making rift of ruin as bad as maw of chaos.
Sacramental Seal: Powerful entities will still escape after a bit, and there’s no way to reasonably keep the focus object on your person.
Soulreaver: As bad as fire storm.
Spell Immunity, Greater: If you’re protecting against only one spell, you might as well be protecting against zero spells.
Spellscar: Like I said earlier, it’s absolutely within reason to have a +32 to concentration just from being a 20th-level caster, which is conveniently the number needed to cast a 9th-level spell within a spellscar without triggering it.
Stormbolts: Like fire storm, but with a Fort save for half, which makes it even worse.
Symbol of Death: Expensive and weak. This is meant as a trap for PCs.
Symbol of Debauchery: As above.
Symbol of Dispelling: As above.
Symbol of Insanity: As above.
True Prognostication: Expensive and unreliable.
Unholy Aura: Probably safe to rate this red, given the paucity of Evil-aligned campaigns.
Vinetrap: Long casting time, weak effect.
Energy Drain: The nice part about energy drain is that your negative levels stand a good chance of becoming permanent, unlike with enervation. (Thanks, /u/LastTheoden, for pointing this out!) This many negative levels (average 5, remember) is a rough debuff for anyone to take, especially if there’s no initial save. Fabulous for softening up hard targets.
Heal, Mass: The Double Platinum Standard for healing.
Miracle: The divine version of wish, AKA every caster’s greatest dream.
Polar Midnight: One of the very few “blast” spells that I’ll give the nod to. Cold damage is okay, DEX damage is better, and oh holy shit they’re getting popsicled with no save. If you have a means of slowing down enemies or preventing them from moving at all, polar midnight can rapidly turn into a game-over.
Summon Monster IX: Oh, yeah. The pinnacle.
True Resurrection: The best of the best in anti-death technology.
Astral Projection: It’s not risk-free exploration, but it’s damn close. If you need to scout a dangerous planar location, consider astral projection before you dive in with your corporeal forms.
Create Demiplane, Greater: The Time quality is the money here: you can stash helpers, cooperative crafters, etc., in your demiplane, and have them craft twice as fast while you’re out adventuring.
Etherealness: If astral projection is your long-term scouting, etherealness is your short-term scouting. Make the team ethereal, ghost through walls, profit.
Gate: It’s kind of planar ally combined with plane shift. At any rate, be careful with the forces you’re toying with. I’ve heard of some tables ruling that the substances of one plane automatically come through the gate—e.g., water pouring in if you link it to the Plane of Water. It would open up all kinds of shenanigans, but ask your GM.
Scourge of the Horsemen: Kind of a combo of fire storm and enervation. Not bad, but Fortitude saves still hurt.
Summon Greater Demon: You’ve got some options, at least.
Winds of Vengeance: I’m not entirely sure why you’d need any of these effects at this level, but it’s a good defensive package overall.
Wooden Phalanx: Their AC, HP, etc. are pretty bad for this level, but they have DR 5/Adamantine, construct traits, and are flat-out immune to most kinds of magic. I’d still pick summon monster in nearly all instances; however, your golems can make effective shields.
Implosion: Fortitude negates, why did you have to be Fortitude negates? Once an enemy caster notices his cronies imploding in a shower of giblets, he’s going to come gunning for you awfully fast. And with SR and the strongest save to negate all damage, I don’t think implosion is as powerful as it seems at first blush.
Overwhelming Presence: I really like it on flavor, and it’s nice to have the WIS drain and staggered condition if they pass later saves. You’ve still got [emotion], [mind-affecting], Will negates, and SR negates, though, and that’s too much. Use it to shrug off minions, but don’t expect the BBEG to fall victim.
Parasitic Soul: If you’re an Evil-aligned Oracle, here’s a cool trick: Cacodaemons (summonable through the 3rd-level iteration of the Summon Evil Monster feat) can transfer dead creatures—including your own friends—into soul gems. If any of your friends die, put them in a soul gem, then force their essence into another creature. It’s a more selective reincarnation, without any expensive materials! And if your friends annoy you, you can always sell their souls to Asmodeus.
Spellcasting Contract, Greater: Give your Fighter buddy some tricks!
Summon Derghodaemon: Too restrictive.
Summon Thanadaemon: Also too restrictive.
Absorb Rune III: Good for bypassing traps that other casters lay, assuming you’ve got someone who can spot them.
Interplanetary Teleport: Castrovel, here we come! Just go straight into a Starfinder crossover campaign.
Salvage: Scroll, if ever.
Ascension: Few GMs will want to play with Mythic rules.
Canopic Conversion: You’ve got tomb legion as an 8th-level spell. That’s good enough for my purposes.
Cursed Earth: For Evil-aligned NPC Druids, not you.
False Resurrection, Greater: Another NPC spell.
Imbue Army Special Quality: An Oracle with 9th-level spells is an army. They don’t need foot soldiers.
Judgement Undone: You do not want the ire of the Lady of Graves. Olethros psychopomps have constant mind blank and true seeing, at-will greater scrying and greater dispel magic, and some truly impressive bow skills. They will hunt you mercilessly and kill you, probably while you are sleeping. Say it with me: you do not want the ire of the Lady of Graves.
Massacre: [Death] effect, Fortitude negates, SR negates, HD cap, no creatures above CR 18 affected. Snoooozer.
Soul Bind: Your Cacodaemons will do a good job providing you with soul gems.
Spawn Calling: One week of casting, no control, massive monster, yadda yadda yadda, all of Golarian is destroyed. It’s a fitting end for an Apocalypse Oracle, at least. The Devourer will consume us all.
Spell Immunity, Greater Communal: Protection from one spell still isn’t good enough.
Storm of Vengeance: Slooooooow.
Symbol of Strife: Stop spending your money on this stuff!
Symbol of Vulnerability: I said stop it!
Yellow Sign: Only as an NPC spell in Strange Aeons.
Oracles can be built to do...well, just about anything, depending on your Mystery and the spells you select. I’ve therefore kept the feat list here in line with the combat roles discussed in OCL240: The Oracle Fights. If you want to build a Blaster, I want you to know which feats are going to support that playstyle (hint: it’s Metamagic or bust). And if you want to be a nonstop Divination specialist, I want you to be able to do that, too!
As an aside, there are a gross number of feat options available to players, so as a GM, I often give my players extra feats that aren’t strictly combat-oriented to encourage them to make builds that aren’t all streamlined combat efficacy. Oracles don’t have quite as many of these as other classes do, but those that do exist I’ve highlighted in black. As always with my guides, Oracle-only feats are noted with an asterisk (*) before them.
[Entity] Obedience: All the various Obedience feats can give you some amazing benefits, depending on who you pay homage to. Given that the Evangelist class is one of the only PrCs to advance your spellcasting at an almost 1:1 ratio, you should definitely consider an Obedience if it works with your concept.
Combat Casting: A must-have for just about any caster. Oracles with lower CHA scores will want it especially, as these are the guys who are likely to be up in someone’s face while they cast.
Diverse Obedience: Few deities have 100% good Obedience boons in a particular track, so Diverse Obedience lets you pick while also advancing your boons a little faster.
Divine Dignity / Perfect Casting: Perhaps two of the most powerful feats in the game for divine casters are only available to worshipers of Abadar. The Master of the First Vault just got a lot more interesting…
Extra Revelation: Never question that Revelations are better than feats: they are. Given that you’ll receive only five of these puppies in the span of a normal campaign, you should make every effort to select the cream of the crop early, up to and including spending feats on them. High-power Mysteries like Shadow or Time won’t be able to get enough of Extra Revelation.
Minor / Major Spell Expertise: Casting spells as spell-like abilities is a big deal because SLAs don’t require verbal, somatic, or material components. SLAs—if you get to pick them—should therefore be your worst case scenario emergency powers: think grappled, bleeding out, no spell slots, etc. Obscuring mist and defensive spells like liberating command or swallow fear aren’t bad for your 1st-level picks, but break enchantment, cleanse, and freedom of movement are the short list for Major Spell Expertise.
Noble Scion: Noble Scion of War is what we’re looking for here. Using CHA instead of DEX to modify your initiative roll is a big deal, especially if you’ve got a Revelation like War Sight (from Battle) or Temporal Celerity (from Time).
Signature Skill (Intimidate): Far and away the best skill unlock from Pathfinder Unchained, Signature Skill (Intimidate) lets you treat demoralize successes that beat the DC as more severe fear conditions than shaken—frightened, panicked, and even cowering are eventually within reach for those with the Signature Skill. For Intimidate-heavy Oracles like Outer Rifts Oracles, this feat and Dazzling Display are the crucial components that allow you to start causing panic in a wide area, essentially turning you into a one-man Nazgûl.
Additional Traits: Traits are sometimes worth more than half a feat, and you may want more of them.
Divine Deception: As a spontaneous caster, UMD checks are going to be a regular part of your diet. If you want Druid, Ranger, Paladin, or Inquisitor spells as well as Cleric spells, this is your feat.
Eldritch Heritage / Improved / Greater: Full coverage of every Sorcerer Bloodline is well beyond the scope of this guide (I may do a Sorcerer guide someday, though, in which case you’re free to look there!) but let us suffice it to say that Eldritch Heritage is an interesting and viable option for Oracles. Oracles feel like and play like Divine Sorcerers, so the flavor is there as well as the mechanics. Too bad about the Skill Focus requirement, but Half-Elves and Humans won’t mind much.
Improved Initiative: You win initiative, you win the battle. The maxim isn’t always that stark, but many times, one round is all a full caster—on either side—needs to start tearing stuff apart or rack up an unbeatable buffing advantage.
Mobility: Sometimes you need to get out of a huge mauler’s way so you can keep on casting; sometimes five-foot steps won’t cut it. That’s why I like Mobility: it gives you the huge AC bonus when you most need it.
Noble Stipend: 100 gp is actually quite a lot for mundane help and services. Ask your GM whether spellcasting services are included.
Planar Mentor / Improved / Greater: With a CHA modifier as good as yours, you can reasonably expect the benefits of Planar Mentor to last a whole battle. As you scale up in the feat line, you get SLAs, more SLAs, and finally the ability to summon your mentor, as planar ally! Pretty cool, all in all. The Good and Neutral mentor benefits are the strongest mechanically, and coincidentally also the ones you’ll be most likely to qualify for from an alignment perspective.
Spell Focus / Greater: Chances are good that your role in the game supports a specific school, whether that’s Illusion for Shadow Oracles, Evocation for Winter Oracles, or Divination for Occult Oracles. Higher save DCs don’t make for the sexiest feats, but they do make for effective casters.
Spell Penetration / Greater: See Spell Focus. Nothing is worse than casting, only to have your spell roll harmlessly off some big beastie’s back.
Spell Specialization: A floating +2 CL for one of your spells could be handy indeed. Pick your best workhorse spell.
* Abundant Revelations: There are a few Revelations that are incredibly good but are only given to you 1/day or 2/day. They’re few and far between, to be sure, but they do exist.
Advance Warning: A modest team buff for Mysteries like Battle (with War Sight) and Time (with Temporal Celerity) that can reroll initiative checks.
Craft [Item Class]: Crafting is a fantastic way to stretch out your wealth by level; however, crafting of magical items requires you to know the spell you’re funneling into crafting (or have a scroll of it, at least) and that’s unlikely for most Oracles. Leave item creation rules to the prepared casters.
Creature Focus: Quite good in campaigns against predominant enemy types (Humanoid [Giant] in Giantslayer, e.g.). Also counts as having Favored Enemy for the purposes of feat and PrC prerequisites, which may well come in handy.
Deepsight: More vision never hurts.
Draconic Heritage: There are some interesting options in here. Not super powerful, but flavorful.
Fleet: Only select this feat if you have the direst need for speed.
Ghostslayer: A fine alternative to a ghost touch weapon.
Favored Prestige Class / Prestigious Spellcaster: Seems like a lot of feat investment to keep the one missing level of casting if you’re going Evangelist.
Reflexive Caster: Most of your surprise round actions will be devoted to self-buffing anyway. Ideally suited for Oracles with the Reclusive Curse.
Soul-Powered Magic: Summoned cacodaemons can provide you with soul gems, and assuming that you’re okay with being Evil-aligned, Soul-Powered Magic will save you a lot of money in the long run.
War Priest: Kinda like if Combat Casting and Improved Initiative had a baby. Slightly weaker than either, though.
Agile Maneuvers: Oracles shouldn’t perform maneuvers with STR, much less with DEX.
Armor Proficiency, Heavy: Mithral Half-Plate counts as medium armor, which should be enough for you.
Combat Expertise: Don’t go getting into the maneuver game. You’ll be disappointed.
Nimble Moves / Acrobatic Steps: You’ve got plenty of ways of avoiding difficult terrain, including air walk and shield of wings. Ignore.
* Revelation Strike: No Mystery except Ascetic grants Improved Unarmed Strike or scaling unarmed damage dice, but the Ascetic Mystery doesn’t have any touch-range Revelations. So...what was the point here?
Disruptive Companion: Oracles can’t get Disruptive, but those with animal companions can let their furry friends take both this feat and Disruptive. Incredible boon when you want to stop someone from casting defensively.
Focused Disbelief: Permanent SR (and pretty good SR, at that) vs. Divine sources. That’s what I call Anticaster.
Spell Drinker: You’ll quickly become the target once a caster realizes you’re intent on killing them. And that’s when you break out Spell Drinker, turning their failed offense into your defense! Great feat.
Steadfast Personality: An enormous bonus on your Will save vs. [mind-affecting] effects, which, again, are the absolute worst.
Step Up / Following Step / Step Up and Strike: The best way to kill a caster is simply to keep up the pressure: cut off escape routes, force defensive casting, target weak saves, and keep slamming away. Step Up and its associated feats are the best example of how to do this for non-Fighters, and give casters precious few opportunities to cast risk-free.
Arcane Vendetta: Pump that damage up!
Atheist Abjurations: More good stuff for dispelling buffs and ridding yourself of summons.
Auspicious Birth: Meteor Shower is great for closing with casters and archers.
Dispel Focus / Greater Dispel Focus: First, make sure your dispel magic always works—then add the riders like Destructive Dispel.
Dispelling Fist: A late-game addition for the Ascetic Oracles out there!
Divine Defiance: More defensive tools against other divine casters.
Eagle’s Resolve: Paired with Iron Will, you get to punish casters even more for trying to take you out of the fight.
Flickering Step: The Conduit feats from Planar Adventures are super cool. Caster teleported? You just teleported with him.
Iron Will: The classic. Even with a good Will save, it’s still worth considering.
Press to the Wall: An easy bonus to hit if you’re getting Step Up.
Sheltering Stubborness: Some [mind-affecting] effects will completely stop you in your tracks, paralyze you, confuse you, etc. With an extra round of onset time, you can simply dispel as needed.
Unimpeachable Honor: If you’ve ever worried about coming under the effects of dominate person and being forced to hurt your allies, don’t worry any longer—you won’t be much of a threat with Unimpeachable Honor.
Destructive Dispel: Interesting as an alpha strike to throw a caster off balance while you charge.
Dispel Synergy: A one-two punch: dispel magic, followed by some crippling curse effect in the next turn.
Steel Soul: Gotta get it if you’re a Dwarf. They don’t make phenomenal Oracles, though.
Exorcist’s Rebuttal: The feat only works if you fail a save, use Improved Iron Will to reroll, and then succeed—an unlikely sequence of events. It’s fun, though!
Dimensional [Feat]: Excellent feat line for magehunters. It’s unfortunately off-limits to you, being neither a Fighter nor an arcane caster.
Disrupting Shot / Disruptive: Oh, how I wish. But Oracles can’t get it, short of multiclassing or gestalt builds.
Chilling Amplification: Winter outperforms, as usual. Coupled with the Freezing Spells Revelation, you can really start to give enemies few options. No five-foot steps? Staggered? That’s a very limited list you’ve whittled it down to.
Burning Amplification: Specifically for Volcano Oracles with the Fiery Conduit Revelation to start up the touch spell curse train.
Elemental Focus / Greater Elemental Focus: If you’re a blaster, you’re almost certainly a Wind, Flame, Volcano, or Winter Oracle, and they all deal exclusively one type of energy damage. You want your spell save DCs to be as high as they possibly can be so that you’re blasting at maximum efficiency.
Glorious Heat: If you’re going to shoot fire everywhere, you might as well heal and buff teammates at the same time.
Fire God’s Blessing: Half-Orc only. The healing is minimal, but if you’re playing something like a Flame or Volcano Oracle, it’s also basically free every round.
Shocking Amplification: Wind Oracles might be interested, if not for the fact that fatigued is a pretty minor condition, and you can’t up the severity to exhausted with this feat. Maybe in conjunction with another spell like scirocco?
Irrisen Icemage: It would be super good for Winter Oracles, but alas: Sorcerer-only.
Primal Bloom: It enters way late, but gives Whimsy Oracles a good method of creating areas of primal magic under their own steam.
Cloud Sight: Sylph-only, but it’ll give you a measure of control when you’re in your own obscuring mist.
Shifting Patterns: Interesting as a tool for Heavens Oracles, who rely so heavily on Illusion (Pattern) spells.
Ambuscading Spell: This right here is your alpha strike ability as a Debuffer.
Divine Interference: “I roll to confirm the crit.” “Actually, that wasn’t a crit. Reroll at a -4 penalty.” This sweet conversational exchange and much more is possible with Divine Interference. Save your team! Debuff your enemies!
Feign Curse: Oracles can be naturally good at Bluff, and now you can parlay that into real-world combat effectiveness. Neither melee bruisers nor full casters tend to have very many skill ranks, so you may very well wind up ruining someone’s day even with a fake curse.
Flexible Hex: Spirit Guide only. Heck yeah, you want the ability to swap out your Hexes at need. Being ready for changing conditions is half of what makes a good PF player a good PF player!
Runic Charge: Touch spells can be some of the most devastating debuffs. Runic Charge packages in a bonus to overcome SR, better mobility, and an increased threat range.
Stubborn Curse: Curses will likely form the backbone of any debuffing arsenal, but the problem is that any full caster will have a fairly easy time removing them. Not quite so easy with Stubborn Curse, is it?
Accursed Hex: Spirit Guides are the only archetype that gain access to Hexes, and you’ll want to be able to tag enemies with multiple Hexes per day in case they pass a save against the first one.
Dazzling Display: I like Dazzling Display, especially in conjunction with the Unchained Skill Unlock feat for Intimidate. It’s good for area debuffing, makes for a great alternative to spellcasting, and works in most contexts.
Hurtful: Dat sweet swift action attack, tho.
Lunging Spell Touch: Many of the best single-target debuffs are touch-range. Volcano Oracles with Fiery Conduit have a means of getting around that restriction, but others don’t.
Spirit Talker: Spirit Guide only. Getting access to a novel Hex is pretty damn cool.
Black Cat: Catfolk only. It’s a fairly good defensive power that can negate crits and other nasty effects.
Hex Strike: May for an Ascetic Spirit Guide?
Amplified Hex: For Spirit Guides only. Benefits aren’t worth the sacrifice.
Big Game Hunter: Large and larger creatures are 95% of the Bestiary at higher levels. If you’ve got any room at all as a martially inclined Oracle, you want this feat.
Bludgeoner + Enforcer: A specific combo that allows melee Oracles to demoralize enemies easily. Enforcer, as you may remember from my Inquisitor guide, is the top of the line in Intimidate technology.
Dragon Style / Ferocity / Roar: I hate, absolutely hate, that so much of this Style line is locked behind a BAB, Stunning Fist, and WIS wall for Ascetic Oracles, because Dragon Style is boss. The base Style is the original One-Feat Wonder, effortlessly giving you boosted defenses, better damage, and serious battlefield mobility; if you manage to scrape together the resources for Stunning Fist (or just bite the bullet and take a one-level dip in UC Monk) you can look forward to even more unarmed strike damage. Stunning Fist and Dragon Roar won’t ever be winners for you, being based off your WIS modifier, but the rest is golden—and by golden, I mean sky-blue.
Power Attack: Melee Oracles will almost certainly take Power Attack at 3rd level. Especially if you have other sources of accuracy (Weapon Focus, self-buffs) or some means of lowering the to-hit penalty from Power Attack (the Furious Focus feat, e.g.) there’s really no downside: martial characters usually have too much accuracy and not enough damage.
Steadfast Slayer: Scales even better than Big Game Hunter—at least where damage output is concerned—against enormous enemies.
Belier’s Bite: It’s actually a decent ability for Ascetic Oracles to deal more damage with their unarmed strikes.
Bladed Brush: Shelyn’s cool, glaives are cool, and finesse fighting is cool. I won’t say you’ll necessarily have the space for Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Glaive), and Bladed Brush, but if you do, it’s an interesting style that alleviates many of the problems with reach weapon fighting. Probably best for Battle Oracles, who can pick up both proficiency and Weapon Focus as Revelations.
Blessed Hammer: Worshipers of Torag can now deliver bestow curse when they hit someone with a melee weapon. Excellent use of the action economy.
Blind-Fight: There’s quite a bit of meat here. Re-read the feat text if you haven’t in a while.
Boar Style / Ferocity / Shred: Boar Style is the Ascetic Oracle’s way to get Rend and free Intimidate checks to demoralize. The base Style is sadly reliant on hitting with two or more unarmed strikes—difficult for Ascetics, who have no access to Flurry of Blows, barring a dip in UC Monk—but the rest of the line is quite good. No Dragon Style, but solidly good if you intend to use demoralize tactics to debuff.
Chaos Reigns: One of the brand-new Conduit feats from Planar Adventures, Chaos Reigns gives you easy access to a natural slam attack—perfect for working into a melee rotation.
Cleave / Great Cleave: The Cleave line suffers a bit from positioning problems, but allows you to attack multiple enemies at your highest BAB. Melee Oracles might well find a space for it, although many of the best feats are Dwarf-only.
Combat Patrol + Deceitful Incompetence: Martial Oracles wielding longspears can get pretty good at threatening wider areas. Let Combat Patrol help.
Combat Reflexes: As above.
Cornugon Smash: The Power Attacker’s method of demoralizing. It’s not quite as good as Enforcer, and the entry is later; still worthwhile.
Diabolic Style / Humiliation / Judgement: Another good option for Ascetic Oracles to debuff while they attack. Staggered is a powerful debuff, and together with a wand of longarm and enlarge person, you could easily continue to punish enemies as they move in and out of your threatened range, cast a spell, or attempt a ranged attack. With the Style line being so BAB-locked, you can expect later entry than Unchained Monk allies.
Felling Smash: Battle Oracles who’ve selected Maneuver Mastery may want to investigate.
Improved Critical: If you’re not getting a keen weapon, get this.
Improved / Greater / Superior Dirty Trick: Mentioned here only because Dirty Trick is probably the best, most universally applicable combat maneuver available to Battle Oracles selecting Maneuver Mastery at 7th level.
Shatter Defenses: Notable for its synergy with Cornugon Smash and Power Attack, and for its ability to make it easier for you to hit.
Snake Style / Sidewind / Fang: Sense Motive isn’t likely to be your best skill; if you can make it your best skill, however, Snake Style becomes a formidable defensive package. Sidewind is a bit lackluster, but Fang more than makes up for it with offensive oomph.
Vital Strike / Improved: I quite like Vital Strike. It’s not optimal, but I suppose I’m too steeped in Spheres of Might to get over my love of standard attack actions. It’s not really a fighting style so much as a consolation prize: if you have to move, you at least get to deal a little more damage.
Weapon Finesse + Dervish Dance / Fencing Grace / Slashing Grace / Starry Grace: Finesse fighting is feat intensive, and in many cases doesn’t visibly outperform STR-based fighting. It shores up your weak AC and Reflex saves while also allowing you to attack, however, and that’s not nothing. Easier for Battle Oracles, who can pick up Weapon Focus for free.
Weapon Trick: Take a look. Plenty of good options.
Amateur Swashbuckler: Without Opportunistic Parry and Riposte, Swashbuckler deeds don’t get you much.
Armored Athlete: Most applicable for Acrobatics, I would think.
Blood Feast: Several Curses grant bite attacks. Not inconceivable that you’d pick this feat up, although the damage isn’t huge.
Cleaving Finish / Improved: You’re a little less likely to kill an enemy than Full BAB classes.
Death from Above: Has great potential for Oracles like Outer Rifts that will want to make melee attacks, but also have flight Revelations.
Elemental Vigor: A reasonably good feat for Mysteries like, well, Elemental. You’ll be polymorphed for most of the day, so why not get some benefit?
Extra Martial Flexibility: For Warsighted Oracles only.
Furious Focus: Power Attack penalizes ¾ BAB classes more strongly than it does Full BAB classes; however, you only get one attack free of the penalties.
Meteor Swing: A newish feat that I love for Full BAB classes. Your BAB progresses too slowly to make the save DC or effects worth it.
Strike True: Combat Expertise is an unfortunate precursor, but potentially worth it for the BAB-restricted Oracle.
Weapon Focus: I’m not saying anyone wants to take it, only that a lot of good feats require it.
Agile Maneuvers: Oracles shouldn’t perform maneuvers with STR, much less with DEX. (The one exception is Battle Oracles with Maneuver Mastery, who might be able to keep up.)
Dirty Fighting: It’s excellent for classes that want to use maneuvers, but you don’t want to use maneuvers.
Martial / Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Battle and Metal will give it to you as a Revelation; everyone else should stick with a longspear.
Two-Weapon Fighting: You have neither the BAB nor the bonus feats to make good use of TWF.
Author’s Note: Metamagic feats deserve their own section of discussion. Under normal circumstances, Metamagic feats are selected only by full casters, who have the spell slots and scaling spell levels to take full advantage of the benefits of metamagic. Battles of opinion can and have raged on Paizo and 3.5e forums for ages as to whether spontaneous or prepared casters make for better casters, and that debate extends right down into which style of casting is better at metamagic. Prepared casters don’t get much leeway in which spells they prepare with metamagic—if you prepare an Extended invisibility but needed an Extended greater invisibility instead, you’re shit out of luck—but can cast all their spells as standard actions. Spontaneous casters, meanwhile, can flexibly apply any Metamagic feat they know to any spell they know, with the caveat that most spells then become full-action casts. Generally speaking, spontaneous casters like Oracles and Sorcerers have more spell slots available, but achieve new spell levels more slowly. It’s beneficial, therefore, to focus your attention on bumping up the efficacy of lower-level spell slots, rather than casting the absolute highest level you can.
Dazing Spell: +3. Expensive yet indispensable for Blasters, who can neutralize an entire field of goons for the length of an entire combat with one well-placed nuke.
Extend Spell: +1. Cheap and 100% worth it for Support Oracles, as well as Ranged or Melee Oracles that want to be able to self-buff. A Metamagic rod would be a good alternative investment if you don’t want to burn the feat.
Heighten Spell: +X. Heighten Spell ensures that any spell you know can remain relevant for as long as you want, provided you’re willing to invest the spell slot. Great when you’re on the cusp of getting a brand new, upgraded version of a spell, but still need the lower version to do good work.
Maximize Spell: +3. The grandaddy of all blasting Metamagic! Keep in mind that Consecrate Spell can do the same thing for cheaper if you’re fighting Evil-aligned enemies on the regular.
Persistent Spell: +2. Two saves, take the worst is just the kind of mechanic you want for hard-hitting debuffs.
Piercing Spell: +1. SR penetration becomes a big deal in later levels, and can be countered only with Spell Penetration or a well-placed Piercing Spell.
Quicken Spell: +4. Hugely useful, and also hugely expensive. The Metamagic rod is the better way to go, as long as you can afford one.
Rime Spell: +1. Accept no substitute if you’re a Winter Oracle.
Shadow Grasp: +1. It’s like Rime Spell for Shadow Oracles!
Solid Shadows: +1. You’ve gotta have this if you’re a Shadow Oracle.
Tenacious Spell: +1. Great for curses, diseases, poisons, and other stiff debuffs.
Tenebrous Spell: +0 if you’re a Shadow Oracle using it on Illusion (Shadow) and [darkness] spells, which is about the only time you should.
Apocalyptic Spell: +1. Cheap, easy difficult terrain lends a modicum of battlefield control to otherwise control-less Blasters. The skill penalty will probably prove ineffective against creatures that use those movement modes regularly.
Bouncing Spell: +1. There are plenty of save-or-suck spells on the Cleric list, the downside being that these spells almost always grant a save to negate. With Bouncing Spell, you can shoot for the BBEG risk-free, knowing that if you fail, you can redirect it to a minion and probably land it.
Consecrate Spell: +2. Most enemies you fight in most campaigns will be some brand of Evil-aligned. In this case, Consecrate Spell can act as a cheaper stand-in for Maximize Spell! That’s a big deal.
Eclipsed Spell: +0. Darkness and illumination tactics can be critical components of some fights, but fitting all the spells needed on your spells known can be hard. Eclipsed Spell just lets you turn darkness into light, and vice versa, all at no cost.
Empower Spell: +2. Maximize’s little brother. It can make debuffs with variable levels of ability damage, blasts, etc. better on the cheap, but Consecrate Spell will do just as well, if not better, against Evil-aligned creatures.
Focused Spell: +1. Every little bit helps when you’re trying to debuff. A +2 to the save DC is more than a little bit!
Latent Curse: +1. Curse your opponents through the floor!
Reach Spell: +1 to +3. Much more versatile than Enlarge Spell.
Silent Spell: +1. You’ll need to cast under the effects of magical silence, while deafened, etc. from time to time.
Still Spell: +1. As Silent Spell, but for grapples, swallow wholes, etc.
Tumultuous Spell: +1. Unpredictable, as all chaotic things are, but potentially warranted for characters specializing in blasting who also want to be able to shunt people around.
Widen Spell: +3. Costly, yet good for blasters.
Aquatic Spell: +1. For Ruins of Azlant and Wave Oracles, potentially.
Authoritative Spell: +2. Highly thematic for Godclaw Oracles, forbidding actions like “move away from me” also effectively accomplishes the Tank’s agenda. Tags on alignment restrictions and the [mind-affecting] clause, though.
Brisk Spell: +0. If your Mystery grants you spells like touch of the sea or overland flight, consider Brisk Spell—the only downside is the increased casting time.
Centered Spell: +0. Blasters may need to toe-bomb at times, pulling off big area hits as enemies roll up. Centered Spell simply helps you do that safely.
Coaxing Spell: +2. The Cleric list isn’t loaded with Enchantment spells, but those that are there will need some means of being effective against creatures that are normally immune against [mind-affecting]. Coaxing Spell doesn’t get all the way there...still better than nothing.
Contingent Spell: +2. At least worth browsing for Life and Succor Oracles.
Ectoplasmic Spell: +1. Super good against ghoulies and ghosties. Well, mostly the ghosties and haunties.
Elemental Spell: +1. It won’t outperform the competition often, but Blasters might need it just to overcome their reliance on single energy types.
Enlarge Spell: +1. Good to have when the enemy is juuust out of reach.
Fearsome Spell: +2. At a +1, I’d say Blasters should consider. At a +2, it’s getting too pricey.
Intensified Spell: +1. The lowliest of the blast Metamagic feats (that’s Maximize, Empower, and Intensified, respectively) but still capable of amping up blasts if you really need them to be amped up.
Lingering Spell: +1. Maybe for area debuffs or blasts?
Merciful Spell: +0. You may wish to knock enemies out with a blast rather than kill them.
Seeking Spell: +2. Not a whole lot of ranged touch attacks on your list, but you never know.
Selective Spell: +1. It’s like Centered Spell if Centered Spell protected your team, too!
Snuffing Spell: +2. For Shadow Oracles, perhaps.
Steam Spell: +0. Volcano and Flame Oracles sometimes have to fight in water, too.
Studied Spell: +2. For Lore Oracles who can leverage Knowledge checks.
Threnodic Spell: +2. Campaigns like Carrion Crown will appreciate this feat.
Umbral Spell: +2. Lackluster, but opens the way for Shadow Grasp.
Vast Spell: +1. Your spell list does include a number of spells that function based on distance between targets. Could be worth it.
Ascendant Spell: Mythic games are rare.
Benthic Spell: So...make half the damage bludgeoning? Pass.
Blissful Spell: Lasts only one round, and the debuff/buff doesn’t scale.
Brackish Spell: Lackluster even for Waves Oracles.
Burning Spell: Blasters are already burning through (punintentional) their limited resources fast. Do you really want to add on +2 for minimal damage?
Cherry Blossom Spell: The +3 is too big for the debuff you’re getting. I’d consider it at +2.
Contagious Spell: Predicated on the assumption that the enemy has casters that can attempt to dispel or remove the condition. Even if there are, you’re hoping that they whiff their dispel check pretty badly.
Crypt Spell: Bad effect, and overly limited to Undead.
Delayed Spell: There are uses, just not many that wouldn’t be covered by regular casting or readied actions.
Disruptive Spell: Dazing Spell could do a lot better.
Echoing Spell: Of more use to prepared casters, who might want one more fireball.
Encouraging Spell: More for Bards.
Flaring Spell: Dazzle is weak.
Fleeting Spell: The halved duration won’t be worth the benefit for most casters.
Sickening Spell: Too weak of an effect in exchange for a +2.
Stable Spell: Spellscar and Whimsy Oracles will be the only ones taking advantage of areas of primal magic, and they’ve got plenty of tools to deal with it anyway.
Thanatopic Spell: Who uses Necromancy spells against Undead?
Threatening Illusion: Too restricted to Illusion spells.
Thundering Spell: Deafened won’t slow committed fighters down too much.
Toppling Spell: Trip CMDs get enormous in later levels.
Verdant Spell: Plant creatures?
Big Game Hunter: Large and larger creatures are 95% of the Bestiary at higher levels. If you’ve got any room at all as a martially inclined Oracle, you want this feat.
Close Quarters Thrower: Stone Oracles going down the Rock Throwing route will definitely want a way not to provoke AoOs while they attack.
Clustered Shots: DR always penalizes multiple small strikes more than it does a single big strike. Clustered Shots makes DR a much smaller problem.
Deadly Aim: You need a fairly high BAB to truly abuse Deadly Aim, but the bonus from Wood Bond in the Wood Mystery neatly cancels out the penalty. Pick it up if you’re going Wood.
Precise Shot / Improved: No question: you need these.
Startoss Style / Comet / Shower: Unclear whether the thrown rocks from the Stone Mystery qualify you for Startoss Style. RAW, I don’t think it works, as stones aren’t included in the Fighter’s thrown weapons group, but your GM may choose to have mercy on you. If they do, Startoss Style and its associated feats are simply incredible, upping your damage output significantly and letting you target multiple opponents at your highest BAB—a big deal for the ¾ BAB Oracle. Plus you can add Vital Strike damage!
Blind-Fight: There’s quite a bit of meat here. Re-read the feat text if you haven’t in a while.
Bullseye Shot: When you absolutely need to hit, there’s Bullseye Shot.
Lob Shot: One of the only ways of ignoring cover until you get Improved Precise Shot late in your career.
Rapid Reload / Crossbow Mastery: Oracles are not innately proficient with longbows, so crossbows will have to do for many. Rapid Reload alone will suffice if you’re using light crossbows; spring for Crossbow Mastery if you’re wielding a heavy crossbow.
Rapid Shot / Manyshot: You could make a strong argument for these feats being blue, as well, but with neither high STR ratings nor abilities that proc on every hit (the Inquisitor’s Bane ability, e.g.) they’re less essential for Oracles than they are for other ranged classes.
Snap Shot / Improved: Quite the late addition due to BAB gating and the extensive number of feats required. Threatening in melee is good for getting your AoOs off, but doesn’t do anything on your turn until Point-Blank Master.
Vital Strike / Improved: I quite like Vital Strike. It’s not optimal, but I suppose I’m too steeped in Spheres of Might to get over my love of standard attack actions. It’s not really a fighting style so much as a consolation prize: if you have to move, you at least get to deal a little more damage.
Weapon Trick: Take a look. Plenty of good options.
Ammo Drop: Halfling Oracles using slings will be glad to have an opportunity to reload as a swift action.
Extra Martial Flexibility: For Warsighted Oracles only.
Point Blank Shot: It’s a prerequisite for lots of other stuff, but lackluster on its own.
Stony Rampart: Partial cover when you need it?
Tracer Fire: An interesting little buff for other team members.
Weapon Focus: I’m not saying anyone wants to take it, only that a lot of good feats require it.
Acute Shot: You’re too far away if you’re beyond your first range increment.
Far Shot: Unless you’re playing an archer who shoots people from a mile away, you won’t need it.
Focused Shot: INT isn’t a high priority for Oracles, so you’re unlikely to make much of this feat.
Messenger of Fate: Pharasma worshiper only; there’s a reason she’s the Goddess of Prophecy. +1 CL for all Divination spells is amazing, not to mention you start upping your chances of a correct Divination to incredible levels.
Diviner’s Delving: Your Divinations are only useful if they can penetrate SR and common anti-Divination tactics like misdirection. So hop to it.
Fortune Teller: Your special spell focus eases pressure off of the expensive material components usually involved in Divination spells. And if you really need to, you can always blow that money and get an extra powerful spell effect.
Aerial Roll: Might work for Mysteries like Wind that get access to flight Revelations with perfect maneuverability and expect to take some fire as they exfiltrate locations.
Divination Guide: Divination spells like augury become easy to cast as you advance in level; unfortunate that the bonus doesn’t scale well.
Realistic Likeness: Kitsune-only, and it’s an excellent infiltration tool.
Shadow’s Shroud: Both powerful and useful for characters reliant on Stealth tools, though limited in duration.
Superior Scryer: A modest increase in effectiveness to a fairly standard Divination tool.
Astrological Timing: Augury is a standard Divination tool for Oracles to advise the team. You might not take this feat in a real build, but it won’t make your GM cry, either.
Eyes of the Purge: An interesting method of figuring out what kind of divine caster you’re up against.
* Prophetic Visionary: For Oracles, at least, feats are a far more precious resource than spells, and nearly any Mystery that focuses on Divination magic will grant access to augury. Flavorful and Oracle-exclusive, but I’d still pass.
Careful Sneak: Obviated by the creeping armor enchantment, which costs no enhancement bonus.
Dampen Presence: Far less useful for you than it would be for a Rogue. You’ve got plenty of access to stealth powers, and wands for when you don’t.
* Seeker of the Eternal Emperor: Divinations should only find a home outside of combat, where action economy isn’t a big deal.
Spirit Ridden: You’ll have to talk with your GM about what “changes your personality” means. If that’s mostly flavor and not mechanics, Spirit Ridden gives you an enormous bonus to a skill for hours at a time—perfect for climbing, swimming, identifying monsters that inhabit a certain area, social situations, etc.
Amateur Investigator: Lore and Ancestor Oracles can for sure do something with an Inspiration pool. You may want to look at the Psychic Searcher archetype if you enjoy Inspiration, though.
Breadth of Experience: No reason for an Elf Lore Oracle not to take this feat. Simply too many bonuses.
Scrutinize Spell: A quick and easy way to turn the Knowledge checks you’d be performing anyway into mechanical advantages and metainformation. Casters be dangerous, yo.
Cunning: For when you need moar rankz.
Cunning Killer: Converting your INT score into a mechanical bonus seems great, but these bonuses advance quite slowly.
Extra Investigator / Rogue Talent: Unclear whether the Psychic Talent feature from the Psychic Searcher archetype qualifies you for these feats, and if it does, whether you have to select the extra Talent from the given list or can select from the expanded list. A smarter person than me might have a ruling, but failing that, talk with your GM.
Focused Inspiration: Psychic Searchers might appreciate the ability to bump their Inspiration die up from a d6 → d8 → d10, with the Amazing Inspiration Talent.
Skill Focus: No one really wants to take this feat, but it’s sometimes a prerequisite. You may wish to investigate if your Mystery revolves around a single skill—Stealth for Shadow Oracles, Intimidate for Outer Rifts Oracles, etc.
Alertness: Your CHA focus doesn’t lend itself well to Perception or Sense Motive checks. You can change that!
Celestial Guidance: Interesting for Solar Oracles.
Master of Knowledge: Too flavor-locked behind Irori for everyone. It’s a neat little 1/day bonus, though.
Knowledgeable Spellcaster: Feels like it should be right up your alley, but applies to only a single Knowledge skill at a time.
* Oracular Intuition: Really? This was the best they could do for an Oracle-exclusive feat? Yeah, it’s not good. You’re not designed, in the long run, for Sense Motive and Spellcraft checks.
Orator: Normally an amazing feat for INT-based classes who want to be party faces as well, Oracles don’t need any help to be master negotiators.
Augment Summoning: Beefs up summons of your level, and keeps trash summons relevant for longer. It’s a key feat for summoners.
Beastmaster Style / Salvation / Ire: With no Improved Unarmed Strike requirement, Oracles with companions are free to pick this Style line up, though it should be noted that the latter two abilities require you to select the shitty Alertness feat as a tax. These are some incredible defensive abilities for your companion, however, and Beastmaster Ire is off-the-walls good at buffing your to-hit and damage. I mean, +4 to hit and +8 damage? How do you beat that from a single buff? Remember that both the base Style and Salvation require immediate actions, so there’s no way to block a hit or save more than once per round, and you lose your swift action next round; also remember that you need to be adjacent to your companion, so no flanking allowed.
Evolved Summon Monster: Unlike Evolved Companion, you get to pick the evolution for your summons every time you summon them, leading to fairly unparalleled versatility. Need more AC? Check. More damage? Check. Energy resistance? Check. Climb or Swim speeds? Check.
Mounted Combat: I’m not saying it’s the best, but you will absolutely need it if you’re going to ride an animal companion.
Mounted Skirmisher: A late-game entry that allows you to perform Rapid Shots, etc., while riding.
Spirit’s Gift: If you’ve got an animal companion, Spirit’s Gift is a 1/day buff, decided based on what you’ll need most. DR, immunities to energy damage, buffs to initiative and AC, fast healing, and more are possible here.
Stable Gallop: Highly useful for mounted Oracles.
Summon [Alignment] Monster: Vastly improves your menu of available summons, and grants some excellent bonuses, to boot. Probably a must for anyone who wants to summon professionally.
Summon Guardian Spirit: Guardian Spirits are powerful, last longer than normal summons, and scale with your summon monster level. Plus, they’re always Fey or Outsiders, which are more powerful than your average summons, at least in early levels. Can’t recommend this feat highly enough!
Undead Master: A capital idea for Bones and Juju Oracles.
Al-Zabriti-Trained Horse: A few Mysteries grant mounts; getting free tricks taught to your mount is a wonderful way to improve their efficacy right off the bat.
Augment Calling: Neatly gives you a bonus to all elements of the planar binding spells, which Mysteries like Outer Rifts rely on for their summoning capabilities.
Beast Rider: How’d you like to be a Half-Orc riding a Triceratops or a Tyrannosaurus? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Beast Speaker / Beast Speaker Mastery: Another good option for getting crazy-cool animal companions.
Celestial Servant: Aasimar make fantastic Oracles anyway, so sure, give your companion or mount the Celestial template! Smites, energy resistance, DR, SR...it’s all here.
Evolved Companion: Pounce and Reach are out, remember, but there are still some great options on this list.
Ferocious Summons: Half-Orc only. Fits in perfectly with the theme of keeping summons around for as long as possible.
Genie-Touched Companion: A natural accompaniment to Al-Zabriti-Trained Horse, with several neat defensive abilities.
Indomitable Mount: Failed saves will screw your mount up royally, and there’s every likelihood that your Ride skill will be higher than one or more of their saves.
Linnorm Hunter Style / Retreat / Coordination: If you want a good Style feat that won’t break the bank, Linnorm Hunter Style pretty effortlessly provides more AoOs for you and an animal companion. Retreat gives extra 5-ft. Steps—always useful for outflanking full attackers.
Monstrous Companion / Monstrous Mount / Monstrous Mount Mastery: Holy alliteration, Batman! More ways to get cool Magical Beasts as your companions.
Mounted Archery: Small-size Oracles on Medium-size mounts is a classic, and with better AC and to-hit, it’s easy to see why. Mounted Archery lets you shoot down enemies no matter where you are on the battlefield.
Proxy Summoning: An interesting way to get disposable meat shields to deliver your curses for you.
Ride-By Attack: You’ll need Ride-By Attack if you intend to attack while mounted. A longspear is especially choice for jousting those who don’t have increased reach.
Spirited Charge: Ride-By Attack and Spirited Charge together can give you quite the damage output while also keeping you safely out of reach of most Medium-sized opponents. Definitely scary in an open field.
Superior Summoning: Most effective when summoning creatures one level below your current summon monster level, as you’re guaranteed to get double the amount of summons even on a low roll.
Totem Beast: A permanent Animal Aspect for your companion is just the ticket. Pick wisely.
Armored Rider: Potentially for Oracles with mounts, like Nature Mystery characters.
Bully Breed: Why not get some free debuffing potential from your animal companion?
Curious Companion: Do you gain much by making your companion a Vermin or Plant creature? No, not much, I’d say, but it’s an option.
Profane Studies: Some minor bonuses for those Oracles (Outer Rifts, etc.) who might want to consort with dark forces.
Retributive Summoning: Counterspelling is...tricky, and the summons don’t scale too well. That said, this feat lets you both deny an opponent an advantage and grant yourself an advantage, so that’s hard to beat.
Uncanny Concentration: Casting while mounted incurs concentration checks normally. Not bad to get increased bonuses anyway!
Versatile Summon Monster: You don’t get a bunch of templates, but so long as you believe your summons will need to function effectively in certain kinds of environments (aquatic environments for aqueous-templated summons, e.g.) it could be worth your pick.
Harrowed Summoning: With a poor feat prerequsite and unpredictable effects, you probably won’t use Harrowed Summoning; it’s cool, though.
Blackfyre Summons: Lists Sacred Summons as a prerequisite, which you have no access to.
Boon Companion: It’s a great feat for Rangers; however, all the companions in Oracle Mysteries scale as the Druid version—that is to say, with your level.
Expanded Summon Monster: Summon [Alignment] Monster is hands-down the better feat, giving you five to eight new summons at each level, rather than two.
Putrid Summons: Just doesn’t feel like it has enough oomph, you know?
Sacred Summons: No aura, unfortunately.
Skeleton Summoner: Weak.
Starlight Summons: No summon nature’s ally on your list.
Sunlight Summons: As Starlight Summons.
Combat Reflexes + Bodyguard: Only for Succor Oracles, who can capitalize on the Perfect Aid Revelation to grant huge bonuses to adjacent allies. Maybe wield a longspear to make threatening easier.
Divine Interference: “I roll to confirm the crit.” “Actually, that wasn’t a crit. Reroll at a -4 penalty.” This sweet conversational exchange and much more is possible with Divine Interference. Save your team!
Healer’s Hands + Heal Skill Unlock: A tremendous, tremendous duo that lets you heal oodles of HP and ability damage quickly and non-magically. Thanks, Planar Adventures, for all the cool Conduit feats! (And thanks, /u/zahmbygotrice, for the tip-off!)
Auspicious Birth: Conjunction is excellent for Succor Oracles with Teamwork Mastery.
Cautious Fighter + Blundering Defense: A Halfling-only strategy that involves buffing your allies’ AC and CMD; unlike Aid Another builds, Blundering Defense doesn’t require you to threaten the enemy your ally threatens, allowing you to stand behind your ally. That’s big.
Fey Foundling: Mentioned specifically for the Life Oracle/Paladin build that relies on using Lay On Hands to heal yourself of the damage caused by Life Link.
Lifebound: Life and Succor Oracles may wish to encourage their team to take this feat, because it enhances the effectiveness of the Spirit Boost Revelation by a good 50%.
Dirty Fighting + Team Up: Much better for Succor Oracles than Swift Aid. Now you can Aid Another as a standard, move, or swift action!
Flagbearer: Not super optimized for Oracles—more for Bards. Free Morale bonuses, though!
Motivating Display: If you’re picking up Dazzling Display to start your career in professional demoralizing, you may as well start buffing your team with it, too.
Siphon Poison: A decent alternative to neutralize poison.
Swift Aid: The benefit is small, but Succor Oracles (incidentally, the only ones who should take this feat) might need their standard actions for casting.
Call Out: You’ve got a good CHA score, so why not use that to single out the most dangerous enemy from a pack?
Just Out of Reach: Creatures with greater than five feet of reach become the norm later on, and this is a permanent +4 AC against them.
Lion’s Heart: Whether you want to protect your CON score for HP, your STR score for offensive oomph, or your CHA score for casting, Lion’s Heart will keep you alive and functional far in excess of what seems reasonable.
Steadfast Personality: An enormous bonus on your Will save vs. [mind-affecting] effects, which, again, are the absolute worst.
Antagonize: One of the few ways to keep enemies’ attention on you. It’s not perfect, but it works well enough when you absolutely need it.
Auspicious Birth: Meteor Shower is great for closing with casters and archers.
Cry Challenge: Wasting opponents’ AoO allotment is a fantastic way to keep the team alive.
Great Fortitude: Your Fortitude save isn’t good; that can get you killed.
Mobility: Sometimes you need to get out of a huge mauler’s way so you can keep on casting; sometimes five-foot steps won’t cut it. That’s why I like Mobility: it gives you the huge AC bonus when you most need it.
Stalwart: Quite the prerequisites—the upside being that DR/— scales a whole heck of a lot better than AC does.
Toughness: It does make you tougher against hit point damage, I’ll give you that. Remember that HP damage is only one of the many inventive ways that people can employ to kill you in later levels.
Wind / Lightning Stance: Casters might as well move around while they cast, and get hefty defensive bonuses while they do it.
Divine Protection: 1/day seems a little flimsy, but the bonus will scale to the point that it’s an auto-success.
Dodge: The bonus is so small. Mobility does more, for my money.
Lightning Reflexes: With no Evasion or Improved Evasion, even passing a Reflex save doesn’t get you much.
Scale and Skin: For Tank and Anticaster builds. The benefit is pretty small, though.
Diehard: I’m sorry, I just don’t like it. If you stay up, you keep getting attacked; if you keep getting attacked, you die.
This section is pretty short: “But wait, Aller,” I hear you saying, “didn’t you do a huge section on weapon enchantments and wondrous items for your Inquisitor guide?” To which I reply, Yes, but I’ve since poured a lot of hours into a little project called The Armamentarium, which is meant to be an exhaustive shorthand guide to every slotted Wondrous Item and unique weapon or armor in Pathfinder. Take a good look at the item tags contained therein, and you’ll be a long, long way toward finding Wondrous Items and other magical armaments that fit your playstyle. A quick search of the [Oracle] tag, for example, reveals the cassock of the black monk, the ring of revelation series, and the amulet of the spirit series. Searching for other tags like [Melee] or [Divination] will yield similar results, as befits the role your Oracle fills.
Regarding bonus progression and “The Big Six”: Of course, many of the cool items that you see in The Armamentarium won’t be open to you as-is, because Pathfinder encounters are balanced around a group of items collectively termed The Big Six: a magic weapon, magic armor, Cloak of Resistance, Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor, and stat-boosting belt/headband. If you don’t have or aren’t wearing those items, you’re far more likely to die than teammates who do have or are wearing those items. But it kinda stinks, right? I mean, why go to all the trouble of creating dozens, if not hundreds, of magical items for those slots if players can’t then use them? Funny you should mention that. Enter Automatic Bonus Progression. Under this ruleset, PCs exchange half their wealth by level for free, scaling resistance bonuses, stat increases, and bonuses to deflection/natural armor. This allows them to use their five newly vacated slots for all the many Wondrous Items that Pathfinder authors spend time lovingly crafting. I’ve played at tables with and without similar rules, and without a doubt, the ones where players are allowed to wear the cool niche equipment are more fun, at least in my experience. It also looks as if Pathfinder 2e is moving toward this system, so get hip to the new vibes, cat.
Regarding shields: Oracles are proficient with shields, which means that they’re worth taking a look at. I’d recommend them most highly for pure casting builds who won’t miss having a weapon drawn; they do provide a nice AC bump, and you can purchase +4 armor and a +3 shield for the price of +5 armor. That’s what I call bang for your buck, bucko.
Regarding armor proficiencies: Heavy armor proficiency isn’t something that all Oracles have access to, but Metal, Battle, and Godclaw Oracles will sure want to take a hard look. Do note that a Mithral Breastplate can get you pretty dang close to heavy armor levels of AC, but without the crazy ACPs and movement decreases.
Oracle archetypes are odd birds. Without many core class features to trade away, most alter your Curse somewhat, swap out a few skills or spells here and there, or grant access to a new Revelation or two. Truly revolutionary archetypes—I’m thinking things like Psychic Searcher or Spirit Guide—are scarce. That’s not entirely a bad thing, honestly, given that Mysteries function for Oracles in much the same way that archetypes function for other classes. My favorite use is to swap out mediocre spell lists for better ones, but you needn’t stretch your archetype muscles more than that unless you really want to.
What's the niche?
Ancient Lorekeepers are Elf- or Half-Elf-only Oracles who tap into their arcane heritage to poach arcane spells from the Wizard/Sorcerer list.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
If your Mystery’s spell list is lackluster but has good Revelations, strongly consider this archetype. Elven Arcana is incredible, and the class skills are decent enough. Unless you’ve got a specific concept that works better, go Half-Elf rather than Elf—Half-Elves get access to the amazing Human FCB in order to compensate for the lost Oracle spells, and otherwise have better stat distributions than Elves for an Oracle build. (Thanks, /u/CoeusFreeze, for the catch about Half-Elves qualifying for this archetype!)
What's the niche?
Acquire Black Blood of Orv, disregard cold: Black-Blooded Oracles don’t trade anything away that breaks the bank, but neither to they gain much.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Like I said up there, Black-Blooded Oracles’ biggest strength is that there’s nothing overtly wrong with the archetype. It neither contributes nor detracts. It is a perfect null. Take it if no other Curse appeals, I guess?
What's the niche?
Cyclopean Seers are Divination/Recon specialists who port over some of the best abilities of their ancient giantkind ancestors.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Absolutely! Cyclopean Seer already makes it extraordinarily easy to spy on your enemies, but it’s the addition of spells from other casting lists that really makes the archetype for me. I wish you were forced to take the optional Revelations, and given the option to take the forced Revelations, but if wishes were fishes, we’d all cast nets. Make some space in your build for the Extra Revelation feat, as you’ll probably need it to supplement your Revelation list.
What's the niche?
Oracles that use the Path of Numbers to calculate the surest way through the chaos of the cosmos.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
The spell list comes on a bit late, as does Program the Divine Algorithm, but if you’re willing to wait, Divine Numerologist is willing to deliver. Probably not a great archetype for low-level games.
What's the niche?
Dual-Cursed Oracles strain under the heavy burden of their Curse, but receive even greater gifts to compensate.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
It really, really is. Not every Mystery has the Revelation list to make Dual-Cursed Oracles’ drawbacks worthwhile, but those that do instantly ascend into the upper echelons of Support and Debuffing effectiveness. Mysteries like Time can become unholy forces of nature with Dual-Cursed, jinxing enemies into a jelly before they ever get the chance to return fire.
What's the niche?
Oracles that eschew connection to a single element in favor of all them.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
The turd that is Elemental Linguist is the only thing holding me back from a full-throated recommendation. Elementalist Oracle is, on the whole, a decent way of replacing a mediocre spell list while paying little in return.
What's the niche?
An archetype that puts Skills- and Utility-based oomph behind otherwise unskilled Mysteries.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Yeah! It’s maybe the best archetype out there for players who want to engage with skills as an Oracle, but don’t want to jump in feet-first to Lore or Ancestor. Lore Oracles can still act as excellent Enlightened Philosophers, however, as it overhauls their shitty spell list.
What's the niche?
Seriously misanthropic Oracles who just don’t like people in their personal space, dammit. Whoa! Whoa! Who’s around me right now!? Who’s around me!?
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Good gravy, that’s crazy. Reclusive won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but the whole package coheres into a scarily self-sufficient and dangerous magehunter. I’d say that Heavens, Lunar, Nature, Outer Rifts, Stone, Succor, and Wood can benefit most from the archetype.
What's the niche?
Divination and Skills specialists who can parlay interpretive dance into spellcasting.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Hmmm. Keleshite Prophet makes it above the Chaff threshold, but only barely. I mean, how many Divination-specialized archetypes can one class reasonably sustain? Cyclopean Seer, Keleshite Prophet, Psychic Searcher, Seer...there are better options out there.
What's the niche?
Merfolk Bard-Oracles (Bardacles? Barnacles? There’s got to be an aquatic pun in there somewhere.).
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
If you’re playing in the Cerulean Seas campaign setting, the latter books of Ruins of Azlant, etc., Ocean’s Echoes will outperform other characters. How are you going to make a Merfolk work in most games, though? Constant slipstream or sky swim?
What's the niche?
Oracles that heal, heal, heal, using a combination of Paladin abilities and mystical herbalism.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Pei Zin Practitioners make the perfect counterpart to Life and Succor Oracles that are going for team buffing and healing. Life Link builds in particular will be salivating.
What's the niche?
Creepy, creepy Oracles who can do creepy, creepy things.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
The spell list is unusual and thematically disconnected, yet strong overall. Has a very strong Witch feel to it.
What's the niche?
The other side of Enlightened Philospher’s Skills coin: Oracles who gain access to Divination magic and Investigator class features.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Enlightened Philosopher gives you more information by letting you scout, sniff out lies, etc., but Psychic Searcher puts a bunch of Divination magic and skill bonuses in your hands and says, “Here, you figure out how to use this.” Mysteries that grant access to all Knowledge skills (Ancestor, e.g.) can take advantage of Psychic Searcher’s benefits, but will find themselves missing all the powerful spells that come with their Mystery. Better instead to select a Mystery like Lore, which grants you many of the same spells while adding an undeniably potent layer of skill mastery.
What's the niche?
Samsaran-only Oracles who remember some stuff from their past lives.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Samsarans don’t immediately leap to mind as Oracles because they don’t receive a bonus to CHA, but their Mystic Past Life alternate racial trait is more than enough to put them on the list. Assuming Spirit Memories functions 3 + CHA times per day, it’s got some good Recon/Debuffing potential.
What's the niche?
Part Rogues, part metamagic adepts? Hard archetype to classify.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Assuming your Mystery grants you enemy-targeted bonus spells and you intend to use them quite heavily (Winter is the classic example) Seeker can be great at what it does, amping up your casting ability without trading much away.
What's the niche?
...another Divination magic specialist?
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Cyclopean Seer, Psychic Searcher, Seer...all the Divination-based archetypes need to remember to speak with their GM before the game begins to see how far they’re willing to play along with Divination magic. I think it would also be common courtesy at my table to alert the GM about which targets you’re going to scry on, which questions you’ll ask during commune, etc., ahead of time so that they can prep appropriate answers.
What's the niche?
A Tengu-only archetype that gives off very Monk-ish vibes, complete with a ki pool.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
I tend to think of Tengu as Clerics, Monks, Inquisitors, Druids, etc., but rarely Oracles. Shigenjo can get the job done, generally speaking, but I’m not entirely convinced you wouldn’t be better off choosing a stronger Oracle race and simply selecting the Ascetic Mystery to achieve the Monk flavor that the archetype leans toward.
What's the niche?
Oracles that gain access to a different Shaman Spirit every day. Yeah, it’s amazing.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Ohhh, good gracious yes. It’s hard to oversell how worth it Spirit Guide is. Oracles sometimes feel locked into their roles, as spontaneous casters who get static abilities; once you combine the flexibility of Wandering Spirit with the power of Mysteries, however, you have an incredibly strong package that can both fulfill a primary role and layer on a secondary role as the day’s adventuring demands. If your Mystery only grants a few worthwhile Revelations, there’s absolutely no reason not to go Spirit Guide.
What's the niche?
Half-Brawler Oracles.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Lacking the ability to get too fancy with your feat selection, you’re going to have to choose simple options: Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Mobility, Cleave, the like. As I said, Warsighted isn’t as OP as it looks at first blush, especially when you consider that you’re giving up a whopping four Revelations for Martial Flexibility.
What's the niche?
Community Guardians are Halfling-only Oracles who focus on team buffing, at least ostensibly. He protecc; he attacc; but most importantly, he got your bacc.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Definitely not. Halflings make good Oracles, but PCs should let NPC Halflings have this one. The buffs and spells are simply too watered down to compete with Mysteries like Life or Succor.
What's the niche?
Oracles that have a side gig as bodyguards to nobility.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
I’m almost positive Inerrant Voice was meant to be an NPC archetype.
What's the niche?
They’re Oracles who like the Planes. It’s right in the name, man.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Leave it for NPCs. Planar exploration might comprise a significant portion of high-level campaigns; for most of us, however, just making it past Book 1 of an AP is a fucking Herculean feat.
What's the niche?
Aasimar-only Oracles that take the fight to Evil Outsiders. It’s got a very Holy Vindicator-ish feel to it.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
I want to like it more, because there’s no doubt that Aasimar make fantastic Oracles. Can you imagine an Angel-blooded Aasimar with the Ancestor or Battle Mystery going ham on some poor Devil’s ass? Ultimately, though, the archetype is way too overinvested in taking down Evil Outsiders. If you’re in a Hell’s Rebels or Wrath of the Righteous campaign, it’s absolutely worth a look, especially if you’re creating a high-level character; beyond that, though, look elsewhere.
What's the niche?
Oracles who are bound to the fate of a particular river.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Bad mandatory Revelations suck up slots that would normally be taken by much better ones, as in the Waves Mystery. Ignore this archetype if you can.
What's the niche?
Kind of a Heavens-lite Oracle?
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Kinda meh. Guiding Star and Star Chart aren’t the most useful Revelations, and the bonus spell list pretty much sucks after 4th level. Just doesn’t wow me.
What's the niche?
Oracles who are just pining for adventure. Who can’t leaf well enough alone. Who root for the forest. I’ll see myself out.
What you’re getting
Is it worth it?
Wood is a lackluster Mystery, and Tree Soul doesn’t do anything to improve that reputation. Get ready for a hot bowl of who-cares.
Full casters like Oracles are hard to dip with. It’s hard to dip into Oracle from another class because, even though there might be a Revelation or two that you’d like to get (Paladins sure wouldn’t mind getting CHA added to their AC, for example) you also have to pick up a Curse to get it, and even the least meddlesome Curse can still be quite meddlesome if advances at half speed for your entire adventuring career. If you do decide to take an Oracle dip, it should be no greater than 1 level, and should be made specifically to acquire a Revelation like War Sight/Temporal Celerity or Prophetic Armor/Sidestep Secret: something that gives you a great benefit at 1st level and never needs to scale beyond that.
Dipping away from Oracle is somewhat easier, although you need to remember that your casting starts to suffer almost immediately. The Magical Knack trait is highly recommended (even cheesy as it is) to boost your CL, SR penetration, etc. to within normal levels. Make sure you know why you’re dipping before you do it: you’re there to grab some bonus feats or low-hanging class features, then get out. Look for features that either grant their full bonus right off the bat or that scale with CHA; never go for a feature that scales with level. Some dips you might consider:
Introduced in Pathfinder Unchained, Variant Multiclassing (or VMC, for short) allowed players to progress two classes in parallel, rather than in sequence. The price—there’s always a price—is most of your feats. Womp womp. For classes like Fighter, where feats aren’t a problem, VMC can be an excellent adjunct to your class abilities, giving you new tools for little overall penalty. Oracles don’t make great secondary VMC choices, unfortunately: the Revelations scale extremely slowly, and you don’t have access to any of the non-scaling Revelations like Sidestep Secret or Prophetic Armor. VMC builds in which Oracle is the primary class fare a little better, although the loss of nearly all your feats will push you to the limits of your creativity. Oracle roles that don’t rely on failed saves or combat (Control, Recon to some extent, Skills, Support, and Utility) do best here; Bard is one of the stronger VMCs, mechanically speaking, and fits nicely with Life, Lore, Succor, etc. Because none of the granted abilities are keyed off of WIS, Inquisitor is oddly good, especially for Succor Oracles with Teamwork Mastery. Lastly, Witch is okay if you choose Support Hexes like Fortune or Protective Luck. Remember, Oracles don’t get any bonus feats, so KISS—keep it simple, stupid.
Gestalt character creation is a process that essentially combines all the class features and casting capabilities of two classes, and is typically done when PCs need to be extra powerful, as when an adventure path designed for a four-person party is only being run by two PCs. Complete rules can be found here. It’s not terribly difficult to pick a gestalt class, because anything you choose isn’t a trade-off so much as an addition. That said, there are choices that maximize what Oracles can already do, so in this section we’ll detail general precepts for what you should be looking out for in a gestalt pairing.
My role is... | The sommelier recommends... |
Anticaster | The Oracle already has enough casting potential on its own, so we should be looking to the full-BAB martial classes for better offensive and defensive powers. Fighter is the natural first instinct, and admirably fulfills all our build goals while granting access to the amazing Disruptive/Spellbreaker/Teleport Tactician feat line. Paladin shores up your saves like crazy, and outperforms against Evil-aligned targets. Bloodrager gets you up in someone’s face in a hurry, and can self-buff with its own spells, leaving your Oracle spells free to dispel magic, debuff, or play other nasty tricks. Bloodlines like Arcane make for premium magehunters. Lastly, Swashbuckler has some good synergy, and Charmed Life is the perfect, flexible tool to shrug off save-or-suck effects. |
Blasting | I mean, we need to discuss the elephant in the room: Sorcerer. It’s the best thematic and mechanical fit for a Blaster, grants bonus feats, and benefits from the Oracle’s improved BAB and HD. You truly do need access to the Wizard spell list if you want to blast stuff professionally. Needless to say, most of your feats should go to Metamagic. Kineticist is an unusual choice, but a cool one. You’ll need to focus your attributes on CON and CHA first, then DEX, then whatever else you need. Kineticists have the added advantage of being able to blast all day long, plus Utility Talents are amazing. |
Control | Sorcerer can again get this job done admirably, although we have to open the floor to classes like Bard or Mesmerist at this point. While the latter two are light on battlefield control, they’re heavy on control of individual enemies, which starts to blur the line between Control and Debuffing. Bard and Mesmerist are only ¾ casters, though, so the Spell Save DCs will suffer a bit compared with Sorcerer. |
Debuffing | Okay, well, Sorcerer again, though potentially with a different Bloodline, and Mesmerist. Mesmerist in particular is an interesting choice, because the Stare feats shut down so many enemies with no save. Once they’re already floundering, you hit them with your worst debuffs to seal the deal. Witch splits your attribute investment between CHA and INT, but has such a strongly Debuff-focused spell list that it makes its way onto the shortlist anyway; you could play a Seducer Witch, but that archetype has...flavor problems at some tables. If you’re playing a normal, INT-based Witch, see whether you can grab a Mystery or archetype that grants Mental Acuity (Enlightened Philosopher, Lore, etc.) so that you can boost your INT at 7th level and beyond. |
Melee / Ranged | Fighter, Paladin, Bloodrager, and Swashbuckler all make a triumphant return. Making their inaugural appearances, however, are Slayers (access to Ranger Fighting Styles and the general supremacy of Studied Target make them excellent melee or ranged fighters), Mysterious Stranger Gunslingers (an interesting CHA-based take on the Gunslinger), Scaled Fist Unchained Monks (another CHA-based Monk that leans hard into Dragon Style, one of the best Style feats available for Monks; it’d be a cool archetype to pair with the Dragon Mystery), and Avenger Vigilantes (not quite as sneaky as other Vigilantes, but come with better BAB and combat talents). |
Recon | If we’re talking Divination specialists, I actually think you’re best off selecting a Mystery like Lore or an archetype like Enlightened Philosopher, then grabbing Mental Acuity and picking up Wizard. Sure, it’s off the wall, but they can pick up Divination as their Arcane School and get a Familiar for more mundane scouting. Occultist can do similar things with their Implement Schools. If we’re talking more traditional Recon guys, well, Unchained Rogue leaps to mind. Sneak Attack damage is a natural complement to Mysteries like Shadow that can boost your Stealth score into the lower stratosphere. Of course, if you’re thinking of Rogue, you might as well consider Stalker Vigilante, which has a more natural fit with CHA and can do crazy things with Disguise, Bluff, and Intimidate. Slayer gets the nod, too, I suppose. |
Skills | Anyone talking about skill domination would have to mention Bard in the same breath, and it’s true that they’re great gestalt pairings for Oracles. The Lore Keeper Revelation + Bardic Knowledge combo is enough to make any skill monkey feel a little hot under the collar. Vigilante and Unchained Rogue are also known to be good skill jockeys. Investigator is a good single-class choice of skill specialist, but here I think splitting your resources between at least DEX, CON, INT, and CHA would leave you too strapped unless you had a very high point buy; you’re better off with the Psychic Searcher archetype and something like Bard as your gestalt. |
Summoning | Unchained Summoner. Enough said. An Eidolon is great, you get built-in summons, and CHA is your casting stat. |
Support | The Oracle already does support incredibly well, so it’s hard to know what to recommend. Paladin is my immediate instinct, as it plays nicely with your CHA score and has good abilities in Lay on Hands and Channel Energy. The only other option open to you is Cleric, I would think; use your Cleric spells to cover niche cases and your Oracle spells to fulfill your primary role. CHA synergizes well with Channel Energy to grant you a bunch of uses per day. |
Tank | Nearly all the classes that work in a Melee role will provide some amount of tanking capability, but Bloodrager and Paladin stand out from the crowd, the former for its mobility and self-buffing, the latter for its impenetrable saves, great self-healing, and heavy armor proficiency. Barbarian and spellcasting don’t play nicely, unfortunately, otherwise I’d give it a pass. |
Agents of the Grave are devotees of the Whispering Tyrant and his organization, the Whispering Way. Most Agents of the Grave are on their way to lichdom in some way or another, and hey, look at that! We’ve got two excellent Mysteries (Juju and Bones) that would be perfect for that theme. Mechanically, this PrC is notable for drastically increasing the HD cap of your summoned undead, will grant you an insane amount of bonus HP through unholy fortitude, and can even add Necromancy spells from other class lists to yours. A great package, all in all. I’ll leave this guide here if you want to really min-max your necromantic abilities.
With easy skill rank and spell requirements, there’s no reason not to enter by about 6th level. Undead Servitude is a must-have Revelation if you’re entering from Bones, and the old version of Juju has both Undead Servitude and the excellent Spirit Vessels. New Juju (“Newju”) doesn’t have anything that synergizes particularly well with Agent of the Grave.
(1) Inspired Necromancy: Inspired Necromancy is the gift that keeps on giving in this class, letting you control more and more undead as levels roll by. If you’ve managed to snag the Spirit Vessels Revelation from the old Juju Mystery, each level of Agent of the Grave will yield 12 HD worth of undead. Nice!
(1) Lich’s Touch: To be used for undead healing only. Don’t go around trying to harm living creatures with this. It’s a waste of your time.
(1) Unholy Fortitude: Agent of the Grave was released prior to the Oracle class, so I think it’s safe to say that Paizo might not have considered what giving a CHA-based class this ability would do. Oracles may reasonably have only 12-14 points invested in CON, but they’ll likely have at least 18 CHA to start with, and a whole lot more as time goes by. By 20th level, you can easily attain a +11 or +12 CHA modifier, which will make you the hardiest spellcaster on the planet. Enjoy your 15-20 HP/level, ya filthy animal.
(2) Undead Manipulator: Keep in mind, this ability isn’t only useful for slapping down undead in random encounters! You can also use your spells to steal undead away from a rival necromancer, bolster your own undead with [mind-affecting] buffs, etc. Pretty great.
(3) Negative Energy Conduit: Being able to cast desecrate 1/day is a neat little trick, but the real power from Negative Energy Conduit comes from the constant buffs your necromantic minions are under, as well as your ability to raise 4 HD/CL at a time with animate dead. Just little layers of strength, all the time, eh?
(4) Death’s Shroud: Of relatively little importance to PCs. Even if you can use nondetection to permanently mask your true alignment, the party might start to feel like something’s off when you’re constantly using unholy forces to conjure up undead servitors. Ya know. If they rolled well on their Sense Motive checks.
(4) Negative Energy Affinity: This ability will likely have no effect on your life whatsoever. Buy a wand of inflict light wounds and keep trucking.
(5) Undeath Initiate: Great for your final transformation into a lich, but tame as a capstone if you were just trying to be the best humanoid undead master you can be.
4th and 5th level are uninspiring as things go, but they do grant you more HD of undead through Inspired Necromancy. You could go with a one-level dip (for Unholy Fortitude), a three-level sojourn (to get to Negative Energy Conduit), or the full five levels if you’re really into the flavor. Assuming you got Juju’s Spirit Vessels Revelation, a full five levels of Agent of the Grave will get you an additional 60 HD of undead under your control. Not too shabby!
Dawnflower Anchorites are devotees of Sarenrae that call down the power of the sun itself to buff themselves, protect allies, and scourge undead and evil creatures from the face of the earth. Mechanically, Anchorite is one of those rare PrCs that could have been written explicitly for Oracles, with nearly every ability keyed off of CHA, excellent bonuses that can apply to the whole team, and little lost from your base class. Great stuff.
Skill ranks and spell levels are all eminently doable, making Dawnflower Anchorite an easy entry by 6th level.
(1) Solar Invocation: Bonuses to your attack, damage, and save DCs are hard to come by singly, but all in one package? Almost too good to be true. And, realistically speaking, most of the big bads you’ll fight (in Paizo APs, at least) are evil-aligned, making this a near-universal ability. Do note that it only works outside, only during the day, and only while you have your holy symbol displayed--you’ll fix that in your very first Credence.
(2) Credence: Credences are kind of like feats or Revelations for your Solar Invocation power, and as usual, they have a variety of effects ranging from excellent to not-so-good. Let’s jump in.
All in all, my suggested progression for an Oracle would be Divine Light (2nd) → Extra Invocations (4th) → Solar Defense I (6th) → Solar Defense II (8th) → Sun Blade (10th).
(3) Bask in Radiance: Cool. Cool cool cool. Now your entire team gets the same benefits you do from Solar Invocation: attack bonuses, damage bonuses, save DC bonuses--and, if you got Solar Defense, AC and Reflex save bonuses, too. This is simply too awesome for words.
(7) Sunbeam: Sunbeam is a really good spell that’s instant death to undead and oozes and, given that Reflex is the weakest enemy save by level, potentially blindness on a massive scale. And Oracles certainly don’t get access to the spell, barring scrolls, so rejoice! It’s a great get.
(10) Dawnflower Invocation: Between Extra Invocations, your high CHA modifier, and your Dawnflower Anchorite levels, you should be rocking about 60 rounds of Solar Invocation per day, which should be more than enough for anyone without this extra minute. But you’re going to get to 9th level for your +3 bonus anyway, so you might as well scootch on up to 10th for 2/day sunbeam and your Dawnflower Invocation, which now grants +4 to attack, damage, save DCs, Reflex saves, and AC. That’s...a really tough package to beat.
Honestly, 10 full levels is what you should be looking for. Oracles can continue to receive Revelations via Extra Revelation (unless they’re level-locked, but ideally you wouldn’t be playing with a Mystery that has a ton of good level-locked Revelations) and their Curses progress at half speed, too. With the only thing left being your spellcasting, there’s no reason not to consider Dawnflower Anchorite the ultimate Support PrC.
Ridiculous things can be done with Pathfinder builds, including a character who can throw grizzly bears more than a mile or a character who can boost their CHA score to 53 for 10 minutes at a time. Now, theorycrafting is awesome, and I’m as much a fan of reading these wild builds as anyone else. I’m not here to make sure that you wipe the floor with every encounter and bend Demon Lords to your will, however; I’m here to give you moderately optimized builds that can contribute meaningfully to a team while hopefully not outshining anyone or pissing off your GM. Build strength is a delicate balance, and I understand that some tables love the insanely min-max-y things that can be done with RAW while others would rather focus on other build priorities after the essentials are taken care of. I’ll be up-front about my bias in the latter camp without telling anyone they’re doing it wrong! If your table likes what you’ve got, then congratulations, you’ve found yourself a home.
As far as what these builds do, I’ve created one build per role, as outlined in OCL240: The Oracle Fights. These aren’t meant to be the be-all-end-all builds, and there’s certainly room for latitude in which Mystery you pick, etc. So long as you concentrate on Mysteries, spells, and Revelations that suit your playstyle, you can build a PC who’s good at her role almost by accident!
N Human Dual-Cursed Oracle 15
STR: 15 (+2) DEX: 10 CON: 14 INT: 8 WIS: 10 CHA: 16
Primary Weapon: Spear
Mystery: Lunar, Curses: Deaf (Does Not Advance), Wolfscarred Face
Racial Traits: None
Traits: Ancestral Weapon (Regional), Child of the Moon (Magic)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP 1 - 3, Extra Spells Known 4 - 20
Abilities
1: Revelation: Prophetic Armor, Extra Revelation: Misfortune, free Silent Spell
2: Ill omen
3: Revelation: Primal Companion
4: Oracle’s burden
5: Magic fang, Revelation: Gift of Claw and Horn
6: Bestow curse
7: Revelation: Eye of the Moon
8: Moonstruck
9:
10: Aspect of the wolf
11: Revelation: Form of the Beast
12: Litany of madness
13:
14: Lunar veil
15: Greater magic fang, Revelation: Moonlit Script
Feats
1: Step Up, Extra Revelation
2:
3: Power Attack
4:
5: Steadfast Personality
6:
7: Iron Will
8:
9: Flickering Step
10:
11: Spell Drinker
12:
13: Dispel Focus
14:
15: Greater Dispel Focus
Strategy
Casters are in trouble against this guy. The basic combat chassis is minimal, selecting only Power Attack and a series of abilities dedicated to natural attacks (Gift of Claw and Horn, Wolfscarred Face) and dedicating the rest of feat selection to anticaster tools like Step Up, Dispel Focus, and Flickering Step. Losing out on buffs/caster debuffs like rage is a hard pill to swallow with the Dual-Cursed archetype, but ill omen, bestow curse, and even oracle’s burden more than make up for it: ill omen and the Misfortune Hex are what you use to ensure that a caster fails a critical save (against bestow curse, for example!) and oracle’s burden can force enemy casters to take a spell failure chance from your Deaf curse unless they want to burn resources and time dispelling themselves. The addition of the Prophetic Armor Revelation ensures that your CHA and Spell Save DCs can compete with other full casters; the animal companion granted by Primal Companion can and should get the Disruptive Companion, Disruptive, and Spellbreaker feats to penalize casting during flanks. Bonus points if you can start using aspect of the wolf and a Wolf companion to work team trip tactics into the mix!
LE Human Seeker Oracle 15
STR: 8 DEX: 14 CON: 15 INT: 10 WIS: 10 CHA: 16 (+2)
Primary Weapon: Light Crossbow
Mystery: Winter, Curse: Powerless Prophecy
Racial Traits: None
Traits: Ice Walker (Race), Elemental Pupil (Regional)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP 1 - 3, Extra Spells Known 4 - 20
Abilities
1: Tinkering, Revelation: Freezing Spells, Extra Revelation: Ice Armor
2: Endure elements
3: Seeker Lore
4: Frost fall
5:
6: Sleet storm
7: Revelation: Servant of Winter
8: Ice storm
9: Revelation: Icy Skin
10: Icy prison, Improved Uncanny Dodge
11: Revelation: Blizzard
12: Cone of cold
13:
14: Ice body
15: Seeker Magic
Feats
1: Elemental Focus (Cold), Extra Revelation
2:
3: Rime Spell
4:
5: Greater Elemental Focus (Cold)
6:
7: Empower Spell
8:
9: Extra Revelation
10:
11: Chilling Amplification
12:
13: Maximize Spell
14:
15: Spell Perfection (Cone of cold)
Strategy
The Rimemage is our first foray into Metamagic-heavy builds in this section, but it won’t be our last. Because Winter brings all the blasting power it needs as bonus spells, the Seeker archetype is a natural thematic and mechanical fit, granting insane bonuses to concentration and spell resistance penetration checks while you use your wintry blasts. Most of our early levels are spent getting some crowd control ability up and running: the Freezing Spells Revelation and the Rime Spell metamagic feat are great examples of how blasters can double up as battlefield controllers. We eventually layer on more defenses (Ice Armor, Icy Skin, and Servant of Winter to act as a bodyguard) while also upping our offenses (Spell Save DCs get cranked up by Elemental Focus and damage output is sustained through Empower/Maximize Spell). At 15th level, our Rimemage experiences a huge leap in effectiveness, between Spell Perfection and Seeker Magic: Spell Perfection can give us Maximize for free, while Seeker Magic can reduce Empower to a +1 adjustment. We’re now casting empowered maximized cone of cold as a 7th-level spell for an average of about 140 damage to every target within a 60-ft. cone. Not bad for an Irriseni, eh? If you’re looking for increased control rather than massive damage output, consider the Dazing and Apocalyptic Spell metamagic feats, which will let you stun and slow enemies in your AoEs, in addition to entangling them.
NE Kitsune Oracle 15
STR: 10 (-2) DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 14 INT: 10 WIS: 10 CHA: 16 (+2)
Primary Weapon: Light Crossbow
Mystery: Shadow, Curse: Wrecking Mysticism
Racial Traits: None
Traits: Nine-Tailed Scion (Race), Power of Suggestion (Equipment)
Favored Class Bonuses: Magical Tail 1-6, HP 7-20
Abilities
1: Disguise self, Revelation: Dark Secrets
2: Charm person
3: Misdirection, Revelation: Cloak of Darkness
4: Invisibility
5: Minor image, ventriloquism
6: Suggestion, displacement
7: Revelation: Shadow Mastery
8: Confusion
9:
10: Dominate person, magic jar
11: Revelation: Wings of Darkness
12: Shadow walk
13:
14: Mass invisibility
15: Project image, Revelation: Shadow Projection
Feats
1: Magical Tail 1
2: Wrecking Mysticism Bonus: Magical Tail 2
3: Magical Tail 3
4: Wrecking Mysticism Bonus: Magical Tail 4
5: Combat Casting
6: Wrecking Mysticism Bonus: Magical Tail 5, FCB Bonus: Magical Tail 6
7: Tenebrous Spell
8: Wrecking Mysticism Bonus: Magical Tail 7
9: Spell Focus (Illusion)
10: Wrecking Mysticism Bonus: Magical Tail 8
11: Spell Penetration
12:
13: Greater Spell Focus (Illusion)
14:
15: Greater Spell Penetration
Strategy
The Outfoxer is less about battlefield control—which can be accomplished quite nicely with just spells known—than about control of individual enemies. Kitsune obviously make great picks for this purpose, as they receive racial traits like Nine-Tailed Scion and Kitsune Magic to improve the power of their Enchantment spells. Wrecking Mysticism is by far the most prevalent feature of the build from Level 1 - 10, granting a host of Enchantment SLAs like confusion, dominate person, charm person, and suggestion. Paired with the Shadow Mystery’s incredible Revelation Dark Secrets, you’re able to pull nearly any spell off the Wizard/Sorcerer list; spells like shadow enchantment and shadow conjuration should be top priorities, as should the Shadow Mastery Revelation to make all those illusions more real. By the time 15th level rolls around, you have a highly mobile, nigh-undetectable Enchantment and Illusion specialist capable of turning foe against foe or turning foes into friends. Feel free to layer on wall spells, summons, Shadow Projection, and all the other nasty tricks you can think of for bending enemies to your will.
CG Catfolk Dual-Cursed Oracle 15
STR: 10 DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 14 INT: 8 WIS: 12 (-2) CHA: 16 (+2)
Primary Weapon: Light Crossbow
Mystery: Time, Curses: Covetous, Plagued (Does Not Advance)
Racial Traits: Clever Cat, Climber
Traits: Reactionary (Combat), Inquisitive Banterer (Race)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP 1 - 3, Extra Spells Known 4 - 20
Abilities
1: Revelation: Aging Touch
2: Ill omen
3: Revelation: Temporal Celerity
4: Oracle’s burden
5: Revelation: Erase from Time
6: Bestow curse
7: Revelation: Speed or Slow Time, Extra Revelation: Rewind Time
8: Threefold aspect
9: Extra Revelation: Time Hop
10: Permanency, fabricate
11: Revelation: Time Sight
12: Contingency
13: Revelation: Time Flicker
14: Disintegrate
15: Revelation: Knowledge of the Ages
Feats
1: Combat Casting
2:
3: Spell Focus (Necromancy)
4:
5: Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy)
6:
7: Extra Revelation
8:
9: Extra Revelation
10:
11: Persistent Spell
12:
13: Spell Penetration
14:
15: Piercing Spell
Strategy
Cats are said to have nine lives, and the Ninelives—through some unusual connection with time itself—remembers each and every one of them. The Time Mystery is the debuffer par excellence, so pairing it with the debuff-heavy Dual-Cursed archetype makes for a hell of a package. Temporal Celerity, a naturally good DEX score, and the Reactionary trait almost universally ensure that you’ll act early in combats, which is your opportunity to open up the doors to hell. Ill omen, bestow curse, Aging Touch, Speed or Slow Time, and Erase from Time can make fairly short work of just about anybody, and Revelations like Time Hop, Time Flicker, and Rewind Time help you stay alive in melee range long enough to fire off your best debuffs. One particularly nasty combo is to pick up a lesser quicken spell metamagic rod, then pair it with ill omen and Erase from Time. A swift action ill omen debuffs the enemy with no save, a move action gets you into place, and with a single touch, poof! They’re gone. This tactic can turn boss fights into cakewalks, as enemies can’t self-buff or take any preparatory actions while they’re out of the time stream. The feat selection isn’t anything fancy, just the bare essentials to keep you casting confidently in melee range and some increases to Spell Save DCs for your hardest-hitting Necromancy spells.
CN Half-Orc Fighter 1/Oracle 14
STR: 16 DEX: 13 CON: 14 INT: 8 WIS: 9 CHA: 14 (+2)
Primary Weapon: Greatsword
Mystery: Battle, Curse: Tongues
Racial Traits: Sacred Tattoo, Shaman’s Apprentice, Shadowhunter
Traits: Magical Knack (Magic), Divine Warrior (Religion)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP 1 - 4, Extra Spells Known 5 - 20
Abilities
1: Bonus Feat, Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
2(1): Revelation: Weapon Mastery
3(2): Enlarge person
4(3): Revelation: War Sight
5(4): Fog cloud
6(5):
7(6): Magic vestment, Extra Revelation: Battlefield Clarity
8(7): Revelation: Maneuver Mastery (Trip)
9(8): Wall of fire
10(9):
11(10): Righteous might
12(11): Revelation: Iron Skin
13(12): Mass bull’s strength
14(13):
15(14): Control weather
Feats
1: Power Attack, Noble Scion of War
2(1): Weapon Mastery Bonus: Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
3(2): Conduit: Chaos Reigns
4(3):
5(4): Dirty Fighting
6(5):
7(6): Extra Revelation
8(7): Maneuver Mastery Bonus: Improved Trip
9(8): Weapon Mastery Bonus: Improved Critical (Greatsword), Felling Smash
10(9):
11(10): Vital Strike
12(11): Maneuver Mastery Bonus: Greater Trip
13(12): Weapon Mastery Bonus: Greater Weapon Focus (Greatsword), Improved Initiative
14(13):
15(14): Improved Vital Strike
Strategy
The Blade is a prince among his people in the Hold of Belkzen, and was practically born holding a greatsword in his hands. It didn’t take long for him to realize that there was more beauty and mystery in the clash of steel on steel than in any god’s holy text. The early portions of the build focus on patching your weak areas: a level in Fighter grants you extra BAB, early access to Power Attack, and a better Fortitude save; Chaos Reigns throws a secondary natural attack in to ease the pain of slower iterative progression. At later levels, various Trip feats, Felling Smash, and Vital Strike are thrown into the mix to facilitate a skirmishing style, especially against casters: with the unbeatable initiative granted by Noble Scion of War, War Sight, and Improved Initiative, the Blade can rapidly close with casters, hurl them to the ground, and finish them off. Spell slots are primarily reserved for self- and team buffing; summoning extra creatures with summon monster is also possible if the Blade needs a flanking partner, distraction, or SLA support.
LN Suli Hermit Oracle 15
STR: 14 (+2) DEX: 14 CON: 14 INT: 10 (-2) WIS: 10 CHA: 14 (+2)
Primary Weapon: Rock Throwing
Mystery: Stone, Curse: Reclusive
Racial Traits: Mostly Human
Traits: Elemental Caller (Race), Strong Arm, Supple Wrist (Combat)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP 1 - 3, Extra Spells Known 4 - 20
Abilities
1: Revelation: Recluse’s Stride
2: Magic stone
3: Revelation: Rock Throwing
4: Blindness/deafness
5: Free Extend Spell metamagic
6: Meld into stone
7: Revelation: Fade from Memory, Extra Revelation: Earth Glide
8: Crushing despair
9:
10: Stoneskin, immunity to charm effects
11: Revelation: Mighty Pebble
12: Wall of force
13:
14: Statue
15: Revelation: Acid Skin, Spell Resistance
Feats
1: Point Blank Shot
2:
3: Precise Shot
4:
5: Rapid Shot
6:
7: Extra Revelation
8:
9: Clustered Shots
10:
11: Vital Strike
12:
13: Big Game Hunter
14:
15: Improved Vital Strike
Strategy
As I said in my discussion section on different combat styles for the Oracle, I don’t believe that Ranged combat truly suits the class very well, mostly due to limited weapon proficiencies, paucity of bonus feats, and lack of support from Revelations. The Stone Mystery might well be the only exception, so I wanted to take a stab at a Rock Throwing build. Combat is heavily, heavily reliant on a lesser belt of mighty hurling; you must, must, must purchase or get someone to craft one of those at your earliest possible opportunity. That said, however, you’ll likely be able to hit even in the early levels when you’re relying on DEX: Rock Throwing itself grants you a +1 bonus to hit, and Point Blank Shot does the same. A high innate STR score and your various passive bonuses will ensure that your rocks really hurt when they hit, at least. As far as defense goes, the Hermit archetype and Earth Glide Revelation make avoiding enemies almost comically easy. You can burrow underground, ignore AoOs, teleport, gain concealment and DR, and eventually just wall foes off entirely with spells like wall of force. This build will take a bit to come into its own as a STR-based thrown weapons specialist, but when it does, you become a mobile weapons platform. Feats like Vital Strike and Improved Vital Strike make kiting and skirmishing tactics eminently possible, as well.
CN Dhampir Cyclopean Seer Oracle 15
STR: 8 DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 15 (-2) INT: 10 WIS: 10 CHA: 16 (+2)
Primary Weapon: Light Crossbow
Mystery: Occult, Curse: Haunted
Racial Traits: Dayborn
Traits: Knowledgeable Caster (Magic), Darkest Before Dawn (Faith)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP 1 - 20
Abilities
1: Revelation: Assume Fate, mage hand, ghost sound
2: Divination spell
3: Revelation: Ectoplasmic Armor
4: Divination spell
5: Levitate, minor image
6: Divination spell
7: Revelation: Brutal Trance, Extra Revelation: Flash of Insight
8: Divination spell
9:
10: Divination spell, telekinesis
11: Revelation: Phantom Touch
12: Divination spell
13:
14: Divination spell
15: Revelation: Sure Soul, reverse gravity
Feats
1: Spell Focus (Divination)
2:
3: Diviner’s Delving
4:
5: Combat Casting
6:
7: Extra Revelation
8:
9: Spell Penetration
10:
11: Greater Spell Focus (Divination)
12:
13: Greater Spell Penetration
14:
15: Fortune Teller
Strategy
More mundane scouting is best handled by the Shadow Mystery, but for everything Divination, there’s the Cyclopean Seer archetype; the Seer archetype works as well if your GM won’t let you go Cyclopean for some reason. I’ve deliberately withheld my choices of Divination spells here, because I want to highlight how flexible the Cyclopean Seer spell list can be: you could go with classics like augury, divination, scrying, and commune, sure, but you could also go with weird stuff like the mind thrust series, glimpse of the akashic, and any number of the bizarre and wonderful psychic spells introduced in Occult Adventures. A Divination-based single target blaster? Alright, why not? There’s enough meat in here that you could reasonably do enemy-independent scouting Divination (augury, commune), enemy-dependent scouting Divination (scrying, prying eyes, clairaudience/clairvoyance), buffing and blasting (heightened awareness, anticipate peril, know the enemy, mind thrust I-VI), or some mixture of everything. Whatever else you do, I’d advise you to focus your Cyclopean Seer bonus spells on spells that you can’t naturally get as an Oracle—that feature is too valuable to be taken lightly.
NG Elf Psychic Searcher Oracle 15
STR: 10 DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 13 (-2) INT: 12 (+2) WIS: 10 CHA: 16
Primary Weapon: Longbow
Mystery: Lore, Curse: Tongues
Racial Traits: Fey-Sighted
Traits: Forlorn (Race), Scholar of the Great Beyond (Faith)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP 1 - 20
Abilities
1: Revelation: Focused Trance
2: Inspiration
3: Psychic Talent: Amazing Inspiration
4: Augury
5:
6: Locate object
7: Revelation: Mental Acuity
8: Divination
9: Extra Revelation: Psychic Talent: Eidetic Recollection
10: Contact other plane
11: Revelation: Arcane Archivist
12: Find the path
13:
14: Discern location
15: Revelation: Automatic Writing, Extra Revelation: Psychic Talent: Empathy
Feats
1: Point Blank Shot
2:
3: Precise Shot
4:
5: Breadth of Experience
6:
7: Rapid Shot
8:
9: Extra Revelation
10:
11: Spirit Ridden
12:
13: Clustered Shots
14:
15: Extra Revelation
Strategy
Elf is the perfect race to try to build a skill monkey with. There’s no boost to CHA, true, but a bonus to INT plus Mental Acuity is almost as good for the purposes of Knowledge checks, and for the most part saves us the trouble of having to grab the Lore Keeper Revelation just to keep up with the Joneses. Overall, this build is about doing everything we can to know everything we can: you get a bunch of decent Divination spells added to the list automatically; Inspiration can add up to a +8 to most Knowledge checks for free by 3rd level, with a further +2 from Breadth of Experience and a floating +20 from Focused Trance; later levels also add abilities like Automatic Writing and Spirit Ridden to further increase the amount of information you can channel into yourself at a moment’s notice. Elves also receive access to longbows for free, so sure, we’ll take advantage of that to put together the essential elements of a Ranged combat build while we’re at it; any spells known that don’t go to improving our skill checks and Divination capacities can go to self- and team buffs. Arcane Archivist makes for a nice supplement to our casting once other arcane casters on the team have finished copying spells over from looted spellbooks.
N Fetchling Oracle 15
STR: 10 DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 14 INT: 10 WIS: 10 (-2) CHA: 16 (+2)
Primary Weapon: Light Crossbow
Mystery: Shadow, Curse: Lich
Racial Traits: Shadow Magic
Traits: Dusk Dancer (Regional), Shadow Stalker (Race)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP or Skill Rank, 1 - 20
Abilities
1: Revelation: Army of Darkness
2: Blurred movement
3: Revelation: Dark Secrets, Extra Revelation: Cloak of Darkness
4: Invisibility
5: Control undead
6: Deeper darkness
7: Revelation: Shadow Projection, Extra Revelation: Wings of Darkness
8: Shadow step
9: Extra Revelation: Shadow Mastery
10: Vampiric shadow shield, undead anatomy I, undead anatomy II
11: Revelation: Pierce the Shadows
12: Shadow walk
13:
14: Mass invisibility
15: Revelation: Living Shadow
Feats
1: Augment Summoning
2:
3: Extra Revelation
4:
5: Summon Neutral Monster
6:
7: Extra Revelation
8:
9: Extra Revelation
10:
11: Summon Guardian Spirit
12:
13: Evolved Summon Monster
14:
15: Superior Summoning
Strategy
Of all the builds created here, I’m 100% comfortable saying that The Shadeweaver is the strongest, but damn it, the Shadow Mystery just makes it so easy! There are a few roles that this build can play, all simultaneously, Recon, Tank, Control, and Summoning being the likeliest candidates. On the Recon front, we start off quickly with Fetchlings’ innate Stealth bonus stacking with the Circumstance bonus from Cloak of Darkness; invisibility makes early Stealth supremacy a lock. A few levels later, Wings of Darkness and shadow step get us into restricted areas much more easily—or use Shadow Projection if you don’t feel like putting your corporeal self at risk—and a few levels after that we have shadow walk and mass invisibility to bring the entire team along. Tanking: we’ve got a 55% miss chance in dim light or darkness, with Cloak of Darkness and the undead anatomy suite of spells to procure DR, AC, and better saves; Living Shadow is a huge leap forward in hardiness at 11th level. Control can be accomplished almost entirely through Dark Secrets, although deeper darkness coupled with the 11th-level benefit of Pierce the Shadows makes it triflingly easy to see right through your own magical darkness and keep hammering away. Summoning is where the build really shines, however; all that other stuff we got more or less for free. Army of Darkness eliminates the Spell Focus (Conjuration) feat tax, allowing us to bulk up our summons with Augment Summoning at 1st level. Some amount of the spells granted by Dark Secrets will invariably go to spells like shadow conjuration, which is why we also grab Shadow Mastery, and Summon Neutral Monster is our trademark ability for expanding our portfolio of available summons. Control undead is a cool spell that can easily turn a few zombies, skeletons, or ghouls into allies for a time, as well. Our summoning efficacy takes a backseat for a bit before returning at 11th level with Summon Guardian Spirit. You’ve got the spell slots and spell levels now to take advantage of this amazing feat, which grants you one long-lived, hard-hitting companion who persists through summons. Great deal. The last two feats of the chain simply round out your ability to keep lower-level summons useful, whether as SLA mules, meat shields to facilitate allies’ tactical retreats from enemies with reach, or harrying partners for melee fighters. If you’re looking for a weapon, I’d actually recommend something like the quarterstaff of entwined serpents; all your feats got used up to become amazing at other things, so simple, no-nonsense magic missiles might be exactly what you need to contribute while your army of minions tears everything else apart. See whether you can pay some extra gold to keep upgrading the caster level of that item, though, as you’ll want more missiles and better chances of penetrating SR.
LG Halfling Pei Zin Practitioner Oracle 15
STR: 12 (-2) DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 14 INT: 8 WIS: 10 CHA: 16 (+2)
Primary Weapon: Longspear
Mystery: Succor, Curse: Powerless Prophecy
Racial Traits: Practicality, Adaptable Luck
Traits: Fate’s Favored (Faith), Mentored (Social)
Favored Class Bonuses: Curse Progression 1 - 10, Skill Rank 11 - 20
Abilities
1: Master Herbalist, Healer’s Way, Extra Revelation: Spirit Boost
2: Ray of enfeeblement
3: Revelation: Perfect Aid
4: Shield of fortification
5:
6: Coordinated effort
7: Master Healing Technique, Extra Revelation: Pitiful Foe
8: Greater shield of fortification
9: Extra Revelation: Curse of Dampening
10: Stoneskin
11: Revelation: Shell of Succor
12: Greater heroism
13:
14: Expend
15: Revelation: Teamwork Mastery
Feats
1: Extra Revelation
2:
3: Cautious Fighter
4:
5: Blundering Defense
6:
7: Extra Revelation
8:
9: Extra Revelation
10:
11: Divine Interference
12:
13: Uncanny Defense
14:
15: Combat Reflexes
Strategy
Succor Oracles function best in melee range, even though that’s sometimes a difficult and dangerous place to be. The Seneschal build takes full advantage of a number of Halfling-only Support and defensive abilities to let you sit comfortably in melee and buff allies up close. Let’s start with the obvious, though: healing. Pei Zin Practitioner is easily the best Support archetype for Oracles, combining powerful non-magical healing with the ability to rid allies of troublesome debuffs. Between all of our bonuses, we’re looking at a +12 to Profession (Herbalism) at Level 1. Not bad! Even if we get no other buffs to our Profession skill, by the time we’re at 8th level we should be able to make DC 25 checks even on a natural 1. Throw in the Enhancement bonus from tears to wine at 9th level, and we can make DC 30 checks on a natural 1, even going for DC 35 checks without any chance of sickening our friends. Easy peasy. As far as pure HP damage goes, the Spirit Boost Revelation makes sure that we can “pre-heal” our squishiest allies.
Healing and condition removal are only one aspect of The Seneschal’s job, though. The rest involves acting as a bodyguard for martial allies. Between Adaptable Luck (with Fate’s Favored, naturally), Small size, good DEX, and medium armor, our Halfling is already harder to take down than many enemies would like; however, we soon add Cautious Fighter and Blundering Defense to the mix, which let us buff our comrades’ AC and CMD while we protect ourselves to the tune of +6 AC. So long as we’re threatening the enemy, we can also grant enormous Aid Another bonuses to either hit or AC, and fear disadvantageous positioning less and less as Uncanny Dodge from our Curse comes online. Curse of Dampening, Pitiful Foe, Shell of Succor, and Divine Interference enter the build a little late, but I wanted to focus on defense and buffing first. Collectively, they make it extraordinarily difficult for foes to do any significant damage to your allies—Shell of Succor can even help them shrug off negative levels and other riders. Uncanny Defense is a very late addition that layers more onto your defenses. Never hurts, right?
LN Human Oracle 7 / Hellknight Signifier 8
STR: 15 (+2) DEX: 11 CON: 12 INT: 10 WIS: 10 CHA: 16
Primary Weapon: Morningstar, Longspear
Mystery: Godclaw, Curse: Hellbound
Racial Traits: N/A
Traits: Armor Expert (Combat), Desperate Focus (Magic)
Favored Class Bonuses: HP 1 - 3, Spells Known 4 - 20
Abilities
1: Revelation: Torag’s Boon, Extra Revelation: Instant Armor
2: Cause fear
3: Revelation: Irori’s Boon
4: Daze monster
5: Extra Revelation: Might of the Godclaw
6: Hold person
7: Revelation: Asmodeus’ Boon
8(1): Order’s wrath, Aura of Law, Catechesis, Order, Signifier Mask
9(2): Arcane Armor Training
10(3): Break enchantment, Signifier Armor Training
11(4): Assiduous Gaze: Scrutiny, Extra Revelation: Armored Mind
12(5): Forceful hand, Arcane Armor Expertise
13(6): Discern Lies, Extra Revelation: Iomedae’s Boon, immunity to fire
14(7): Dictum, Assiduous Gaze: Veracity
15(8): Signifier Armor Training 2
Feats
1: Warrior Priest, Extra Revelation
2:
3: Power Attack
4:
5: Extra Revelation
6:
7: Great Fortitude
8: Hellknight Signifier Bonus: Alignment Channel (Chaos)
9: Toughness
10:
11: Extra Revelation
12:
13: Extra Revelation
14:
15: Combat Casting
Strategy
Thanks to the Hellknight Signifier class’ Catechesis feature and full spell scaling, the only cost to pursuing this PrC for a full 10 levels is one or two high-level Revelations that are easily regained through feats. And in return, you get some really cool stuff that synergizes well with the Godclaw Mystery’s strengths! Super high AC from Hellknight Plate and Torag’s Boon is obviously the greatest perk of the Godclaw Mystery; Torag’s Boon rounds up a +4 Deflection bonus at 1st level, while Hellknight Plate packs a whopping +9 bonus and an ACP of -5. The Armor Expert trait will knock that down to -4, and your Hellknight Signifier bonus at 10th level will put it at -3; further enhancing your Plate with Mithral drops that ACP to 0! Great stuff, and Instant Armor makes it a cinch to get into your Hellknight Plate even if you’re surprised in the middle of the night. Other bonuses that you get improve your saves (Signifier Mask, Irori’s Boon, Armored Mind) or offenses (Iomedae’s Boon) quite nicely; Hellbound gets you immunity to fire damage at 10th level and a +4 vs. charm effects at 5th. There’s not a lot of subtlety to this playstyle that I can comment on: you simply stomp into the middle of melee and start hitting stuff really hard, using self-buffs and calculated damage spells combined with Asmodeus’ Boon to dominate enemies. When you finally get your Deific Obedience, go with Irori—it’s the least evil and most universally useful.
N Half-Elf Spirit Guide Oracle 15
STR: 14 (+2) DEX: 14 CON: 12 INT: 10 WIS: 8 CHA: 16
Primary Weapon: Elven Curve Blade
Mystery: Ancestor, Curse: Reclusive
Racial Traits: Fey Thoughts, Ancestral Arms
Traits: Elven Reflexes (Race), Focused Mind (Magic)
Favored Class Bonuses: Skill Ranks 1 - 3, Spells Known 4 - 20
Abilities
1: Revelation: Spirit Shield
2: Unseen servant
3: Wandering Spirit
4: Spiritual weapon, Spirit Magic Spells
5:
6: Heroism
7: Bonded Spirit Ability
8: Spiritual ally
9: Extra Revelation: Wisdom of the Ancestors
10: Telekinesis
11: Revelation: Spirit of the Warrior
12: Greater heroism
13: Extra Revelation: Spirit Walk
14: Ethereal jaunt
15: Greater Bonded Spirit Ability, Extra Revelation: Voice of the Grave
Feats
1: Combat Casting
2:
3: Power Attack
4:
5: Flexible Hex
6:
7: Accursed Hex
8:
9: Extra Revelation
10:
11: Spell Penetration
12:
13: Extra Revelation
14:
15: Extra Revelation
Strategy
The Spirit-Ridden is my attempt, however flawed, to create a build that can do entirely different things depending on the day. Ancestor is already a great Mystery to start with, with solid bonus spells and a lot of good combat-, skill-, and recon-affiliated Revelations. As far as feats go, only the essential skeleton of several tracks: Power Attack makes you okay in melee combat, especially combined with the might of the Elven Curve Blade and self-buffs like heroism or Spirit of the Warrior; Combat Casting, Spell Penetration, and the Focused Magic trait shore up your casting; the Flexible/Accursed Hex feats give you as much leeway as possible when reacting to new situations as a Spirit Guide; and Reclusive is an all-around great Curse for self-buffing and anticaster tactics. You even get bonus spells known as your FCB! This build might not make you jaw-droppingly excellent at any one role, but what I can promise it will do is make you solidly competent at any role you choose to set your mind to. Maybe that will need to be skills or team healing on one day, and swarm blasting or scouting the next day. The Spirit Guide can do that for you.
All good things must come to an end, my friends, and so concludes Bell, Book, and Candle: A Guide to the Pathfinder Oracle. If you’ve enjoyed what you read here and are already reaching for your wallet to throw money at the screen to support this starving PhD student, don’t worry! You needn’t force that crisp $20 bill into your outdated floppy drive—we’ve got Patreon for that now! You can find me at the headquarters of All Souls Gaming, and anyone who contributes not only supports me in my future guide writing efforts, but also helps me to create the clear, fair, and balanced third-party content I’ll be devoting some time to in the coming years. As my mission statement, company name, and internet handle imply, my goal is to rope as many people into this crazy, wonderful, breathtaking community of ours, so any content I create will always be free of charge to you. Call it a mitzvah, or call it an informed hunch that your conscience might just prompt you to donate at some point. ;)
If 3PP material isn’t really your jam, well, you can always find me on Reddit, where my handle is /u/Allerseelen. I like to think I’m quick to respond to private messages and mentions on the /r/Pathfinder_RPG subreddit. And I’m now entering the 21st century and setting myself up with a Twitter account! Come chat with me @AllSoulsGaming1.
And where does our journey take us after this? Well, I’ve got my eye on the Spheres of Might supplement by Drop Dead Studios in the near future, a newfound dedication to third-party content, and eventually—who knows?—a 2e Oracle class to write up. Paizo did say that it was a very close race between the Alchemist and the Oracle, but I guess the people have spoken. There are also guides to the Pathfinder Hunter, Style feats, and Deific Obediences in the works! No rest for the weary. As always, my thanks go out to the incredible Pathfinder community, without whose guides and formatting tips I would have been hopelessly lost; and to Paizo itself, which has created a truly wonderful game that makes for some truly wonderful times. Here’s to many more years in this great hobby, and may your eyes be all-seeing!
All my best,
Chris