Realsorceror’s Guide to the Rage Prophet
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Special: Oracle’s Curse and Moment of Clarity
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 5 ranks
Spells: Ability to cast 1st-level divine spells
The prerequisites for getting into Rage Prophet are very easy to meet but are also very restrictive. Oracle is currently the only class that has the Oracle’s Curse class feature. Fortunately your choice of class that provides rage and rage powers is a lot more open.
If anyone remembers the old 3.5 Rage Mage this is very similar but arguably more synergetic as melee combat and divine spellcasting tend be friendlier with eachother. Very late in the game a Rage Prophet can add Constitution into save DC’s, allowing them to throw out spells that are much harder to resist.
Combat: Your base attack bonus and hit points are going to be lower than a normal melee character. However you have the ability to buff and heal yourself which will often put your attack bonus and damage on par or even better than a single class character.
Spellcasting: Even in the best case scenario you won’t ever have 9th level Oracle spellcasting and you will always be getting your new spell levels late. However, you will still have a lot more options than a pure Barbarian.
Skills: You’ll maintain the same skill ranks you enjoy as a Barbarian.
Savage Seer: Your class levels stack to determine the effects of both your rage powers, Oracle revelations, and Oracle curse. However you don’t gain new abilities.
Spirit Guide: An automatic free Guidance every rage and a few other minor spell-like abilities. Nothing to write home about but it improves with later features.
Rage Prophet Mystery: Being a spontaneous caster means any extra spells known are welcome. About half of them are divination and they primarily serve to reinforce the flavor of you being a mystical shaman.
Raging Healer: By 2nd level you can freely cast Cure spells on yourself while raging. In some builds this may be all you need.
Indomitable Caster: At 3rd level add your Constitution bonus to all concentration checks like an old fashion 3.5 caster, except this is in addition to your casting stat.
Ragecaster: While using Moment of Clarity your Barbarian level can be added to your caster level and your Constitution mod can be added to spell save DC’s. The limiting factor to this amazing ability is that Moment of Clarity can only be used once her rage. If you have some ability to ignore or cure fatigue you can drop in and out of rage to keep casting blast or debuff spells that have a much higher chance of beating spell resistance and saves.
Spirit Guardian: Your Guidance bonus becomes much better against several common enemy types and you can now spend rounds of rage to give your equipment Ghost Touch.
Enduring Rage: Expend spell slots to gain rounds of rage equal to the spell level. Unless you’re really hurting for rage in most cases the spells will be the better option.
Raging Spellstrength: This ability is worth the wait as allows you to freely cast all spells with a range of “personal” while raging. This includes a good number of your buff spells.
Spirit Warrior: A nice improvement to your Spirit Guardian ability.
Greater Rage: The capstone is the Greater Rage class feature which you’ll likely have missed from your base rage class.
Here are the base classes that qualify for Rage Prophet in order of how many levels you’ll need. With the exception of the Cleric build you will have a few levels to play with after the prestige class is said and done. In most cases it is best to continue whatever class you were focusing on before entering Rage Prophet, whether that be Oracle or your rage class.
Barbarian (2-5 levels)
The intended method of entering the prestige class is also the most obvious choice. Barbarian is also your best choice if you like a little more customization in your build as all the other options are specific class archtypes that are more locked-in. To meet the base-attack bonus requirements for Prophet by 6th level you will need between 2 and 5 levels of Barbarian. One of your Rage powers must be Moment of Clarity but otherwise you’re free to choose everything else.
Bloodrager (Primalist) (4-5 levels)
You won’t get many arcane spells from the few levels you’ll have but it does share the same casting stat as Oracle. Otherwise there is not much synergy here and you’re better off going with a different class.
Ranger (Wild Stalker) (5-6 levels)
This is the option for those players who want more skill points and less hit points. Wild Stalker essentially removes everything that makes a Ranger a Ranger and replaces it with Barbarian class features. While you qualify for Prophet with just 5 levels of Wild Stalker and 1 level of Oracle, you may consider picking up the additional rage power gained at 6th level. Technically your Prophet levels could stack with your Ranger spellcasting but in most cases this is subpar to your Oracle spellcasting.
Fighter (Viking) (6 levels)
The additional feats can certainly make this an appealing option and the ability to demoralize opponents as a move action isn’t bad either. Vikings have fewer hit and fewer skill points than a Barbarian, however, and won’t benefit from fast movement or uncanny dodge.
Summoner (Blood God Disciple) (11 levels)
Perhaps the strangest entry class for Prophet is this Summoner archtype. Because this rage ability is so limited and Summoner is so anathema to multiclassing this is also one of the worst options for your base class.
Cleric (Rage Domain) (12 levels)
Easily the latest entry method into Prophet, a Cleric with the Rage Domain and 1 level of Oracle can take their first level of the prestige class at 14th level. While you’d only have 7 levels of Prophet you could also have 9th level divine spellcasting.
Archtypes: The following archtypes are worth mentioning. While both work well with Prophet in their own way, it’s important to note that neither of them gain 9th level spellcasting.
Crusader - This archtype is significantly more martial than the standard Cleric and gains extra combat feats and a group-buffing ability in exchange for diminished spellcasting.
Theologian - The Theologian archtype should allow you gain your rage power at 10th level and thus qualify for Prophet two levels earlier.
Variants: While there are a whole host of variant channeling and domains to look at, these may synergize especially well.
Anger Inquisition - If you aren’t using your other domain this can double the number of rounds of rage you have available, which is mighty fine.
Destruction Channeling - While your standard channel energy becomes weaker you and your party become especially good at destroying the scenery and sundering objects.
Strength Domain - A great choice for your second domain. The granted powers can be used while raging and provide huge bonuses to Strength, attack rolls, and strength-based checks.
Oracle (1-4 levels)
This is your one and only way to gain the Oracle’s curse ability required for entry into Rage Prophet. Fortunately you still have plenty of options to choose from when it comes to curses, mysteries, and archtypes. You only need 1 level of Oracle, but if Barbarian is your rage-granting class you can take as many as 4 levels of Oracle for additional spellcasting.
Curses: While they all initially start out as hindrances, each Oracle’s curse eventually grants impressive bonuses. Your Prophet levels stack with Oracle to determine the bonuses and penalties gained from your curse.
Blackened - A massive -4 on weapon attack rolls? Heavens no! This is for blaster spellcasters and not melee people.
Deaf - Hey, free Silent Spell on everything! Communicating with your party might be a little rough without sign-language or telepathy.
Haunted - Some pretty terrible things can be done with spells like Telekinesis and Reverse Gravity. The drawback usually won’t be an issue.
Lame - Congratulations, you’re immune to fatigue! Sure, you lose 10 ft. to your base speed but you’ll gain that back from Fast Movement. Definitely not lame.
Legalistic - Potentially very restrictive, but interestingly it grants a +3 bonus on all three of the class skills used for Antagonize.
Tongues - I’ve always considered this a “safe” option as it doesn’t really penalize you much. As a Barbarian you won’t really be talking in combat anyway.
Wolfscarred - Normally a bite attack would be great for a Barbarian but this curse is terrible for spellcasting. 20% spell failure on verbal spells.
Wrecker - If you like to focus on breaking stuff (buildings, golems, other people’s weapons) this is a curse to consider. The penalties are painful early on.
Mysteries: The primary class feature of an Oracle, mysteries grant additional class skills, spells known, and special abilities called Revelations. You won’t ever have more than three and most Prophets will only ever have one Revelation. Your Prophet levels stack when determining the power of your Revelations but do not grant additional Revelations or spells known from your Mystery.
Ancestor - This really fits the flavor of Rage Prophet and has a few neat abilities like summoning weapons or shields. And no one expects the Barbarian to have all Knowledge skills.
Battle - An obvious and strong choice with several Revelations that work great for a melee character. And you add Enlarge Person to your spells known. Very late game you could gain the ability to cast cure spells on yourself as a swift action for free.
Bones - A potentially sizeable armor bonus to AC that scales with level and a possible flanking buddy in the form of a permanent summoned undead. Certainly an odd flavor combination but definitely still cool.
Dark Tapestry - If you’re more of the Stealthy type this Mystery might interest you. Though I have to wonder why you’re playing a Barbarian.
Flame - The spells known and several Revelations suggest more of a blaster mage. Still, you could gain a large boost to your speed and mobility, a heat aura, or fire resistance.
Heavens - Another nice scaling armor bonus to AC with a duration measured in hours and the ability to float and eventually fly, among other things. The spells aren’t too useful to your build.
Juju - Really no synergy with Barbarian or melee in general.
Life - Gain massive boosts to your healing abilities and temporary hit points. As cure spells are one of the few things you can cast while raging this just makes them even better. As with Battle above you can also cast Cure spells as a swift action at high levels.
Lore - Use your Charisma modifier in place of Dexterity for your Armor Class and Reflex saves, and potentially use Charisma for Knowledge checks as well. Definitely something to look at if you don’t have enough ability points to go around.
Metal - As long as you’re dealing with metal equipment (and most characters are) you can gain Armor Mastery like a Fighter. Other abilities include increased speed and summoning weapons.
Nature - If you’re looking at having a Mount you can pickup one here and combine it with all the fun Mounted Fury rage powers.
Occult - On one hand there aren’t many abilities here for you. On the other hand you gain Use Magic Device as a class skill. But so do other, better mysteries.
Outer Rifts - Yet another scaling armor bonus to AC.
Spellscar - Wonderful blanket energy resistance (including Sonic!) and a possible flanking buddy in the form of an elemental that gets bigger as you level.
Stone - A lot of cool abilities here, including X-ray vision, melding through stone, and some nice bonuses to tripping opponents.
Time - A great boost to Initiative rolls, the ability to use Blur and Blink as supernatural abilities, and possibly the power to remove an opponent from combat for several rounds. And you get Use Magic Device as a class skill.
Waves - An all around good set of powers with many of them being defensive in nature. The usual armor bonus to AC, cold resistance, and a large boost to CMD.
Winter - Yet another solid elemental set with similar abilities to the others.
Wood - The tree-loving counterpart to Metal, you can summon a wooden weapon, gain greater attack bonuses with wooden weapons, and change into a plant creature. This could get pretty mean if you turn into a large creature and rage.
If you happen to be using the multiclass variant from Pathfinder Unchained, some of the above options become more viable.
Barbarian (Secondary) (11 levels)
Taking Barbarian as your secondary class will let you focus entirely on Oracle, which will provide greater spellcasting and Mysteries at the expense of hit points and attack bonus. This is a fair tradeoff, with the major downside being that you won’t get the rage power you need for Prophet until 11th level.
Oracle (Secondary) (varies)
Taking Oracle as your secondary class allows the Rage Domain Cleric to qualify one level earlier (level 12), making it even more appealing for high level characters who still want full divine spellcasting. Technically it can also be paired with Wild Stalker Ranger, though that option remains subpar. Unfortunately, because secondary Oracle grants no spellcasting of its own it can’t be paired with a straight martial class by itself.
When it comes to your base race there are a number of good options. As long as you remember that you’re meant to be a front-line combatant, race may as well be a chosen purely for flavor.
Aasimar
While they are probably a bit too powerful compared to other base races, Aasimar are nonetheless a strong choice for this build (and most any build). Aasimar also have their own Oracle archetype although most of the features won’t come into play when multiclassing.
Changeling
The hit to Constitution hurts but otherwise this is a fantastic choice, especially if you choose the Hulking subtype. A boost to your casting stat along with natural attacks, natural armor, and Darkvision. The favored class option for Oracle can potentially get you to the 5th level stage of your Oracle’s Curse.
Dwarf
With their penalty to Charisma, Dwarves are really only a strong choice if you are focusing on the Barbarian side of Rage Prophet. In that aspect they shine just like a standard Dwarf Barbarian. Dwarves also come with their plethora of racial traits and alternate traits.
Gnome
With their bonus to Constitution, Gnomes are one of the few passable choices for a Small-sized melee character. They also gain a bonus to Charisma which is the primary casting stat for Oracle. And, like Dwarves, Gnomes just have a whole mess of racial traits. The Gnome favored class bonus for Oracle also increases your effective level for Oracle’s Curse.
Half-Orc
Always a strong choice for Barbarian and a good thematic match for a shaman-esque character. The favored class bonus can provide a few extra rounds of rage in an otherwise rage-hungry build.
Human
What class are Humans not good at? Humans also have the double advantage of having a favored class bonus for any possible base class you choose.
Nagaji
If you’re looking for something exotic, these snakefolk have a bonus to both Strength and Charisma. They also gain a bonus to natural armor and their ability score penalty is to Intelligence, which is unimportant for all of your classes.
Tengu
Of the choices that have some synergy with Rage Prophet this one probably has the worst stat array for the class. What Tengu bring to the table is their proficiency with many exotic weapons, several natural attack options, and a favored class bonus for both Barbarian and Oracle. Like Aasimar they also have a racial Oracle archetype.
As with the Battle Herald this class is also trying combine two base classes that normally might not work well together. As such there are a lot of different things you could focus on and it’s possible to become too spread out. In this case it’s best to consider what role you’ll be playing in the party and what base class you chose.
Combat Casting
Chances are very good that you’ll be casting spells in melee a lot more often than other casters. While you’ll be getting a boost to concentration checks at level 8 (assuming the fastest progression) this may come too late depending on how early you enter Oracle.
Extra Rage
Because Prophet does not advance your number of rounds of rage each day you may find it necessary to take this at least once. In most cases 6 rounds is another encounter.
Extra Rage Power
The prestige class also does not continue your power progression and there are a number of very beneficial Rage Powers available. If your base class does not natively have Clarity of Mind as an option this feat becomes a requirement.
Extra Revelation
As with rage powers, Prophet does not grant new revelations and only improves the ones you already have. Depending on your chosen Mystery some of your revelations could be very important.
Furious Spell (Metamagic)
For those who want to be able to use attack spells while raging, this is a must have. Normally this feat increases the spell level by 1 and adds bonus damage. But if you are under a rage affect you can cast the spell normally and gain an additional +2 on concentration and caster level checks.
Power Attack
Your base attack bonus will be hurting but being a divine spellcaster means you can buff those penalties away. Power Attack whenever possible.
Magical Knack (Magic) - I can’t recommend this enough on any multiclassing build with spellcasting. In fact I would almost call this a requirement since you’re almost guaranteed to lose more than 4 caster levels.