Have I shot my character in the foot? (Help with Wizard/Oracle build)

[jbear]

Hi there people.

I'm playing my first game of Pathfinder in a pbp game (LPF) here on EnWorld. I'm playing an human wizard who has been cursed by his former master and trapped in an old man's body until he unravels the karmic knots his youthful folly has caused. In short, his backstory is largely inspired by Nevyn from the Daggerspell saga. Actually his last name is Nevyn and he gives that name to those he has no interest in knowing his real name.

Anyway, without bogging this post down with unnecessary detail, though his backstory has relevance to the decisions I've made buildwise, at 3rd level I have taken a level in the Oracle class. The reason I did this was pretty much because I thought having an actual curse mechanic as part of his build would be fun, especially as each curse has both a limitation and a benefit. I took Clouded Vision as it went well with 'Old Man Curse', and I thought forcing a wizard to the edge of melee would keep things exciting.

On the LPF board someone suggested Mystic Theurge as a Prestige Class, and so I thought the combination would/could be mechanically viable. I even invested some points in charisma in anticipation of my eventual multiclassing from the outset.

But, overwhelmed with feat/build options I (perhaps foolishly, as ignorance is bliss) began reading threads about multiclassing in search od some good options. I love rp but I also like my character to be decent at what they do.
And the general opinion seemed to be: "Multiclassing is not such a good option" and Mystic Theurge is a sub par option in general with a few exceptions (Wizard/Druid).

So ... my question is ... have I shot my character in the foot taking a level of Oracle? At the moment he's Wizard 2/Oracle 1. I had planned to keep the levels fairly even ... but now I'm tempted to just focus on Wizard, enjoy the RP/challenges to combat the curse provides (and the at will orisons) and leave Oracle at level 1, taking an altogether Wizardly Prestige Class (which I haven't a clue).

Anyway, I'd appreciate any help or suggestions from those more build savvy than me. I'll also post a few nuts and bolts of my character so you can get an idea what I've done so far.

Relic Nevyn Human Wizard 2/Oracle 1
Str 10 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 18 Wis 8 Cha 14
Wizard School: Air
Arcane Bonded Ring
Oracle Mystery: Wind; Spells: Bless, Murderous Command
Curse: Clouded Vision
Revelation: Lightning Breath
Feats: Iron Will, Toughness, Eclectic
Traits: Theoretical Magician, Reactionary
Magic Items: Pearl of Power lvl 1; Wand of Mage Armour; Ring of Protection +1

 

[Qik]

Jbear!

Just a few quick thoughts, as I've got one eye on the (American) football game.

- I've never played a mystic theurge, but I've done enough research on the class to have seen that the general consensus is that it is, in general, a very difficult class to build satisfactorily; in general, from a mechanical perspective, most seem to agree that wizard/cleric is the best way to go, in order to take the prestige class as quickly as possible.

- Personally, I don't think taking a single level of oracle is necessarily a bust, since it does allow you to take the "extra mystery" feat, which means you can continue to benefit from some of the class' abilities. Not exactly sure what mysteries are available to you, however.

If it makes you feel any better, I have similar feelings about Quioan - I had been primed to enter arcane archer, but I've cooled on my enthusiasm for the class, and at this point, the level of wizard I took feels like something of a waste. I'm actually toying with the idea of retiring him, since I have some other problems with him, too, but I'll wait and see how things play out in jk's adventure.

 

[Mad Hamish]

multiclassing for a full spellcasting progression is generally a loss in power.
As a wizard going mystic theurge you're trading 2 levels of wizard spells and 4 caster levels for the oracle spells.
A wizard 3/oracle 4 isn't a particularly strong character compared to a wizard 7 and that's the minimum level you can get to be mystic theurge, it's probably not uplayable but it's well down in power against a Wiz 7 or an oracle 7

you don't need a prestige class in Pathfinder, a straight Wiz 20 is right up there with any prestige class based you can make (especially with favoured class) and ahead of most of them (a big plus is the free spells each level which prestige classes don't give you)

 

[Systole]

1. Mystic Theurge is not an optimal class.
2. Wizard or Witch/Cleric or Druid is the best way to get into Mystic Theurge, because you meet the requirements at 3rd/3rd rather than 4th/3rd or 4th/4th.

That said, there's a big difference between 'not optimal' and 'bad.' Relic is not bad. Not to mention, having the single level of Oracle isn't terrible, since it allows you to use a whole 'nother set of wands and scrolls. And it doesn't take a lot away from your wizard spell progression.

If you want to prestige class later, the only classes worth it are Loremaster and Daivrat, but Daivrat is kind of pointless for a character that already has divine spellcasting.

 

[gamerprinter]

All this discussion depends on your GM and your gaming group as well as what kind of adventures you play (do you use published adventures?) If they are all Min-Maxers, then a suboptimal build could hurt you.

Me, as a GM, I'd allow any class selection as a player choice, and would work with their character build to include in fun adventuring - no matter how suboptimal the choice.

In my opinion, however, having played PF for about 2 years, I much prefer single class and never taking a prestige class - so any builds asking about dual classing then prestige classing afterwards is by definition suboptimal. But as stated, there's nothing necessarily wrong with suboptimal choices, depending of course on the game, GM and the rest of the party.

Good luck in whichever way you go. I really can't help you beyond that. I myself would play an arcane caster OR a divine caster, never both in the same class, but you're welcome to the choice.

 

[Systole]

I'm in his group, and have been in a bunch of adventures with [MENTION=75065]jbear[/MENTION] over in Living Pathfinder. On the whole, I would say that LPF's characters are pretty solid, but generally don't go for out-and-out optimizing -- my elf barbarian is about the closest thing to an optimized character that I've seen. And, as you can imagine, an elf barbarian is not really that optimized.

 

[jbear]

Okay,cool. Thanks everyone, that pretty much decides it for me. I'll just take the Oracle level as something quirky to add a mechanical obstacle/benefit to back up his backstory and continue on as straight wizard from here. I'm not really worried about him being the biggest baddest most poweful character in the world, I'm aiming for 'decent' but flavoursome.

So having that decided that makes the feat Eclectic completely wasted. So time to go over to the LPF boards and ask permission to change that. Sigh.

Does anyone have a suggestion for some decent feats I can have a look at. There are so many ...

 

[gamerprinter]

Augment Summoning - to beef up your summoned monsters, if you summon creatures at all.

Combat Casting - improves your defense while casting spells or using magic items.

Improved Familiar - if you have Find Familiar, you get more and better choices.

Improved Initiative - is always good no matter your class.

Item Creation Feats - any of them, depending on what items you want to be creating.

Metamagic Feats - any of them, though you want to stick with those you can actually use at lower levels (pick more 'expensive' ones at higher level) Quicken Spell, might be your first.

Spell Focus/Gr. Spell Focus and Spell Penetration/Gr. Spell Penetration - improves at getting your spells to bypass spell defenses.

Spell Mastery is useful.

Beyond this, any feat that fits the flavor of your chosen path...

 

[jbear]

Why would Quicken Spell be the first choice of Metamagic feats? The way I'm reading it is that a quickened spell takes a slot 4 levels higher. SO to quicken a 1st lvl spell it would take a 5th level spell slot. So I wouldn't be able to use it til I can cast lvl 5 spells.

Am I reading it wrong?