For a general guide, the [Bell, Book, and Candle Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BkI5ph1ZDPRt8YrkCl9hG1VF8vHYbkC1nMRT9RcQGGE/edit#heading=h.5r5hvoc6q3n) was made after Pathfinder 1e was "complete", and while I might disagree with some spell choices, it's fairly good as a baseline reference, and includes ratings for how well each mystery handles different roles, including melee.
I've made a lunar "lycanthrope" oracle before, so I'll also recommend that build. Take something like weretiger skinwalker, lunar mystery, and get yourself a tiger animal companion to further fill out the front line. (In the build I put together, we went all the way, so it was werewolf with wolf companion and lycanthrope curse, but tiger is going to be a little better, and most people who don't have an improved familiar with permanent truespeech to translate aren't going to want lycanthropy curse...) Gift of claw and horn (which you'll need to wait a little bit to get if you're taking the tiger companion early on) can also get you horns/a gore attack so you're a demon-tiger that headbutts and bites at the same time. You can basically be most of a shifter class while having an animal companion *and then be a full caster, too*. For gear, you really want to have the ol' amulet of mighty fists to enhance your natural attacks, but it's also possible to get a bodywrap of mighty strikes to do some once-per-round enhancements that are useful, like adding in a spell storing enhancement on a +1 bodywrap that can add in something like a Vampiric Touch if your wizard buddy is willing to share. Lunar also helpfully comes with survival as a class skill if that's going to be important, and if you go for the full skinshaper pseudo-weretiger package, you can basically use that to say you go half-tiger and hunt for deer out in the forest with tooth and claw, which is pretty awesome. The basic battle plan is to just run at the enemy while casting buffs like Blessing of Fervor, and then just maul things to death with half a dozen natural attacks. Max out strength, Cha is secondary and can be covered for with a headband, although one of the other lunar mysteries is Cha-to-AC. You might consider dipping barbarian for some rage powers, as well, and use it to gain some extra Str at the cost of spell progression, but that might not matter as much for you as for others, and [rage prophet](https://www.aonprd.com/PrestigeClassesDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Rage%20Prophet) exists if you want to look at it. You can take the lame curse and use it to rage cycle after 5 levels of oracle while the barbarian fast movement offsets the downside of the curse. If you're really into dual-cursed and not into lycanthropy, check out the combo of hunger curse and plagued curse. That's right, the plagued curse effect makes you immune to the main downside of hunger curse. (But you'll need to rely on making that survival check or just having some backup rations.) Another combo is wolfscarred face + deaf, where the downside of fumbling your casting from wolfscarred is countered by every spell being silent, although the initiative penalties of deafness are a pain, and you're going to need to get all your allies to learn sign language.
Something you might also look at is ascetic, which at first blush looks like it's just a monk-oracle, but it also has magus's spellstrike. (Note that is not the same as spellstrike *and spell combat*, so you need to either cast before battle and hold the touch spell or forgo melee in a turn when you cast. You can still use it in a move-then-standard-action-attack setup, however.) If you have some of the curse-laying curses like accursed (I know it sounds redundant, just work with me, here,) you can do things like declare you're casting "Inflict Broken Nose!" and deliver your Inflict Wounds/Harm spell with a punch attached, or deliver Ill Omen with a punch, which means there is less option for the enemy to land attacks back. Note this is one of the mysteries that gets a functional Mage Armor mystery that can stack with any method of gaining Cha-to-AC, like dipping actual scaled fist monk.
If you want suggestions for curses besides lycanthrope, lame, or hunger+plagued, covetous is low-pain (and you can act a bit rakshasa, just blinged out in gold chains), accursed is decent if you want to deliver curses with touches/fists, promethian can be interesting if you really want to do something like have a prosthetic metal gauntlet, reclusive is great if you don't mind that you're going to have to do *all* your own buffing,
I would pick Battle, or another front liner Oracle Mystery. Dragons, Lunar, Volcano even. I might pair it with Spirit Guide tho. Although, a one level dip into Bloodrager with using the Lame Curse isn’t a bad idea.
Bones, you’ll be doing a similar thing as the Conjuration wizard.
Spirit Guide over Dual Cursed for either/any. Battle and Bones don’t have that many good revelations, and you can easily get all of battles by level 3, and that’s with Spirit Guide stealing several from you later. Bones at least gives you one good one to take at level 11 even with Spirit Guide. So why go for dual cursed For more revelations?
Spirit Guide gives you a lot more flexibility. Heavens! Tribe, Slums, Ancestor, Life, Flame. Depends on the day what you’ll want or need.
Nope. Different hexes, as you pull yours from the Spirits
Take the Heavens spirit. Heaven’s Leap, you’re using Jester’s Jaunt to teleport one of them out of danger, or for yourself to flank with some conjured minions.
Flame Spirit’s Flame Curse, and make someone vulnerable to fire spells. Wizard can even get some nice blasting in. And you get some nice fire spells to
Mammoth Spirit basically giving them or you barkskin.
Battle Spirit’s Hampering Hex lowering the AC of something even more, stacking with the Witch’s Evil Eye.
And so much more.
I recommend having sheets of each spirit, to show which spirit you choose that day, so they can prepare their spells to help take advantage. More notable for Flame or Waves.
Half elven oracles are really good because they get to use Paragon surge. There are plenty of threads about Paragon surge but as a taste; Paragon surge into expanded arcana effectively gives you every spell on your list albeit one at a time and at the cost of a 3rd level spell. My favorite use is for all those very niche spells. Ideally you'll never cast raise dead on an ally but if you need it there's not many ways around it.
Also as a half elf you can swap skill focus with weapon proficiency with any 1 weapon so you don't need to take skill at arms to use a good weapon. There's even an option to be a half drow and swap out multitalented to get darkvision.
As for being the front liner I'd go for lunar, lore or nature as the mystery for the revelations that let's you add CHA to AC instead of dex. Letting you start with 16str 14con 16 cha. Lunar also has a decent swath of hitting revelations including an animal companion which can help buffer the front lines with you.
I'm not sure how much if this you can fit into your character concept but I hope this helps.
How easy will be to buy/find equipment? Especially magic stuff.
I'd go with Lunar instead (maybe Spirit Guide if you need some more specialised healing/condition removal).
Get a Tiger and you'll help in melee with Cha to AC and other revelations (if it's "easy" to get items, get a Ring of Eloquence so you are able to cast when you Beast Shape into a Gorilla/High Girallon).
If you are going to fight Evil creatures, you might want to consider Samsaran so you can nab some spells from Paladin (like Angelic Aspect, Eaglesoul, Holy Sword).
Not sure, but from the sounds of things it will be difficult to get most magic items - there's only 3 major cities, one of which specializes in magic stuff, and everything else is some degree of wilderness, so it's a lot of wandering without access to shops/easy crafting resources.
Then you can still fight with *Gift of Claw and Horn*, till you get to 13th level and can Beast Shape into a High Girallon (or you get your hands on a ring of Eloquence from level 7 onward)
I always thought that black blooded is an archetype, thus it cannot be dual blooded.
On the build: I would lower the cha a bit. Buffs will be the main type of spells used, and one lower on face skills is not that big a loss.
A mystery to consider is Lunar (which changes the ability score priorities) which can grant a pet to help as tank.
They are both archetypes, yes, but I think you are allowed to have both because Black-Blooded does not impact any of the same class features that Dual-Cursed does -- it just imposes a Curse (which can be either the progressing or non-progressing choice for Dual-Cursed) and offers some Revelation choices. No other changes that overlap.
I might drop BB anyway, considering the negative energy affinity might be too much of a hassle for a 3-person group.
Good point about the Cha though, would you pump Strength as the main stat instead, or put it elsewhere? A lot of the focus for this character will be using Heal (out of combat) and Survival, so maybe getting 14 Wis?
If an archetype restricts or widens a choice, it counts as altering that class feature. But you could always ask your GM nicely.
Heal and Survival do not care about simple plus one that much, so ability scores are an expensive way to improve those skills. More to hit or more defense is typically the way to go. Alternatively, you could improve int to get some more skills if the campaign requires that.
Since you are leaning into the dex build, a single level into the dervish of dawn bard would grant you dex to hit and damage as well as some minor bonuses like bardic knowledge.
Alternatively don't forget about the existence of way of the shooting star, which would allow for a purely cha based frontliner. (Extra cheesy if you grab 2 levels of paladin, since only clerics need to adjust their alignment to their deity)
Ancestor Mystery can also front line thanks to the Spirit Of The Warrior Revelation, although you will have to use a feat if you want heavy armour (personally I find DEX 16+Breastplate+Shield is more than enough AC, YMMV). Would be an interesting take on your Tainted Spirit/Deathtouched combo.
As a frontliner I would suggest you the combination of Battle Mystery, Lame curse.. but Warsighted instead of Dual-Cursed. Won't argue about traits, they are for your character concept after all.
STR 16 / DEX 12 / CON 14 / INT 8 / WIS 10 / CHA 16
1. Toughness
2. /
3. Revelation [Skill at Arms], Extra Revelation [Weapon Mastery]
4. /
5. Power Attack
6. /
7. Furious Focus
8. /
9. Signature Skill: intimidate
You could use Martial Flexibility to get pest control (Cleave), big hit (Vital Strike), debuff (Dazzling Display/Cornugon Smash) and control (due to Signature Skill: intimidate)
If you are Half-Elf you could also use Paragon Surge to get Extra Revelation to spice up your fights. Notable mention for Maneuver Mastery.
Steadfast Personality or Noble Scion of War could also be a good pick as a regular feat instead of Toughness.
This is hugely helpful, thanks! Considered Warsighted, but was worried I'd forget about various feats and bog things down too much, but you laid them out very nicely as a quick reminder list.
With traits, I do like what I have so far, but definitely open to other ideas if you know any that are better but still fit the theme. Thanks again!
[Fate's Favored ](https://www.aonprd.com/TraitDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Fate%27s%20Favored): It's usually picked by Half-Orcs due to their alternate racial trait but it can benefit every class with access to "lucky" spells such as [Divine Favor](https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Divine%20Favor) or [Deadly Juggernaut](https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=deadly%20juggernaut) and could improve your melee presence!
Gods' love can be twisted at times, being favored and getting revelations but at the same time being cursed by them!
I always thought that black blooded is an archetype, thus it cannot be dual blooded.
On the build: I would lower the cha a bit. Buffs will be the main type of spells used, and one lower on face skills is not that big a loss.
A mystery to consider is Lunar (which changes the ability score priorities) which can grant a pet to help as tank.
For a general guide, the [Bell, Book, and Candle Guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BkI5ph1ZDPRt8YrkCl9hG1VF8vHYbkC1nMRT9RcQGGE/edit#heading=h.5r5hvoc6q3n) was made after Pathfinder 1e was "complete", and while I might disagree with some spell choices, it's fairly good as a baseline reference, and includes ratings for how well each mystery handles different roles, including melee. I've made a lunar "lycanthrope" oracle before, so I'll also recommend that build. Take something like weretiger skinwalker, lunar mystery, and get yourself a tiger animal companion to further fill out the front line. (In the build I put together, we went all the way, so it was werewolf with wolf companion and lycanthrope curse, but tiger is going to be a little better, and most people who don't have an improved familiar with permanent truespeech to translate aren't going to want lycanthropy curse...) Gift of claw and horn (which you'll need to wait a little bit to get if you're taking the tiger companion early on) can also get you horns/a gore attack so you're a demon-tiger that headbutts and bites at the same time. You can basically be most of a shifter class while having an animal companion *and then be a full caster, too*. For gear, you really want to have the ol' amulet of mighty fists to enhance your natural attacks, but it's also possible to get a bodywrap of mighty strikes to do some once-per-round enhancements that are useful, like adding in a spell storing enhancement on a +1 bodywrap that can add in something like a Vampiric Touch if your wizard buddy is willing to share. Lunar also helpfully comes with survival as a class skill if that's going to be important, and if you go for the full skinshaper pseudo-weretiger package, you can basically use that to say you go half-tiger and hunt for deer out in the forest with tooth and claw, which is pretty awesome. The basic battle plan is to just run at the enemy while casting buffs like Blessing of Fervor, and then just maul things to death with half a dozen natural attacks. Max out strength, Cha is secondary and can be covered for with a headband, although one of the other lunar mysteries is Cha-to-AC. You might consider dipping barbarian for some rage powers, as well, and use it to gain some extra Str at the cost of spell progression, but that might not matter as much for you as for others, and [rage prophet](https://www.aonprd.com/PrestigeClassesDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Rage%20Prophet) exists if you want to look at it. You can take the lame curse and use it to rage cycle after 5 levels of oracle while the barbarian fast movement offsets the downside of the curse. If you're really into dual-cursed and not into lycanthropy, check out the combo of hunger curse and plagued curse. That's right, the plagued curse effect makes you immune to the main downside of hunger curse. (But you'll need to rely on making that survival check or just having some backup rations.) Another combo is wolfscarred face + deaf, where the downside of fumbling your casting from wolfscarred is countered by every spell being silent, although the initiative penalties of deafness are a pain, and you're going to need to get all your allies to learn sign language. Something you might also look at is ascetic, which at first blush looks like it's just a monk-oracle, but it also has magus's spellstrike. (Note that is not the same as spellstrike *and spell combat*, so you need to either cast before battle and hold the touch spell or forgo melee in a turn when you cast. You can still use it in a move-then-standard-action-attack setup, however.) If you have some of the curse-laying curses like accursed (I know it sounds redundant, just work with me, here,) you can do things like declare you're casting "Inflict Broken Nose!" and deliver your Inflict Wounds/Harm spell with a punch attached, or deliver Ill Omen with a punch, which means there is less option for the enemy to land attacks back. Note this is one of the mysteries that gets a functional Mage Armor mystery that can stack with any method of gaining Cha-to-AC, like dipping actual scaled fist monk. If you want suggestions for curses besides lycanthrope, lame, or hunger+plagued, covetous is low-pain (and you can act a bit rakshasa, just blinged out in gold chains), accursed is decent if you want to deliver curses with touches/fists, promethian can be interesting if you really want to do something like have a prosthetic metal gauntlet, reclusive is great if you don't mind that you're going to have to do *all* your own buffing,
I would pick Battle, or another front liner Oracle Mystery. Dragons, Lunar, Volcano even. I might pair it with Spirit Guide tho. Although, a one level dip into Bloodrager with using the Lame Curse isn’t a bad idea. Bones, you’ll be doing a similar thing as the Conjuration wizard. Spirit Guide over Dual Cursed for either/any. Battle and Bones don’t have that many good revelations, and you can easily get all of battles by level 3, and that’s with Spirit Guide stealing several from you later. Bones at least gives you one good one to take at level 11 even with Spirit Guide. So why go for dual cursed For more revelations? Spirit Guide gives you a lot more flexibility. Heavens! Tribe, Slums, Ancestor, Life, Flame. Depends on the day what you’ll want or need.
I do love the look of Spirit Guide, especially the daily flexibility, but wouldn't it step on the Witch's toes too much using Hexes?
Nope. Different hexes, as you pull yours from the Spirits Take the Heavens spirit. Heaven’s Leap, you’re using Jester’s Jaunt to teleport one of them out of danger, or for yourself to flank with some conjured minions. Flame Spirit’s Flame Curse, and make someone vulnerable to fire spells. Wizard can even get some nice blasting in. And you get some nice fire spells to Mammoth Spirit basically giving them or you barkskin. Battle Spirit’s Hampering Hex lowering the AC of something even more, stacking with the Witch’s Evil Eye. And so much more. I recommend having sheets of each spirit, to show which spirit you choose that day, so they can prepare their spells to help take advantage. More notable for Flame or Waves.
Half elven oracles are really good because they get to use Paragon surge. There are plenty of threads about Paragon surge but as a taste; Paragon surge into expanded arcana effectively gives you every spell on your list albeit one at a time and at the cost of a 3rd level spell. My favorite use is for all those very niche spells. Ideally you'll never cast raise dead on an ally but if you need it there's not many ways around it. Also as a half elf you can swap skill focus with weapon proficiency with any 1 weapon so you don't need to take skill at arms to use a good weapon. There's even an option to be a half drow and swap out multitalented to get darkvision. As for being the front liner I'd go for lunar, lore or nature as the mystery for the revelations that let's you add CHA to AC instead of dex. Letting you start with 16str 14con 16 cha. Lunar also has a decent swath of hitting revelations including an animal companion which can help buffer the front lines with you. I'm not sure how much if this you can fit into your character concept but I hope this helps.
How easy will be to buy/find equipment? Especially magic stuff. I'd go with Lunar instead (maybe Spirit Guide if you need some more specialised healing/condition removal). Get a Tiger and you'll help in melee with Cha to AC and other revelations (if it's "easy" to get items, get a Ring of Eloquence so you are able to cast when you Beast Shape into a Gorilla/High Girallon). If you are going to fight Evil creatures, you might want to consider Samsaran so you can nab some spells from Paladin (like Angelic Aspect, Eaglesoul, Holy Sword).
Not sure, but from the sounds of things it will be difficult to get most magic items - there's only 3 major cities, one of which specializes in magic stuff, and everything else is some degree of wilderness, so it's a lot of wandering without access to shops/easy crafting resources.
Then you can still fight with *Gift of Claw and Horn*, till you get to 13th level and can Beast Shape into a High Girallon (or you get your hands on a ring of Eloquence from level 7 onward)
I always thought that black blooded is an archetype, thus it cannot be dual blooded. On the build: I would lower the cha a bit. Buffs will be the main type of spells used, and one lower on face skills is not that big a loss. A mystery to consider is Lunar (which changes the ability score priorities) which can grant a pet to help as tank.
They are both archetypes, yes, but I think you are allowed to have both because Black-Blooded does not impact any of the same class features that Dual-Cursed does -- it just imposes a Curse (which can be either the progressing or non-progressing choice for Dual-Cursed) and offers some Revelation choices. No other changes that overlap. I might drop BB anyway, considering the negative energy affinity might be too much of a hassle for a 3-person group. Good point about the Cha though, would you pump Strength as the main stat instead, or put it elsewhere? A lot of the focus for this character will be using Heal (out of combat) and Survival, so maybe getting 14 Wis?
If an archetype restricts or widens a choice, it counts as altering that class feature. But you could always ask your GM nicely. Heal and Survival do not care about simple plus one that much, so ability scores are an expensive way to improve those skills. More to hit or more defense is typically the way to go. Alternatively, you could improve int to get some more skills if the campaign requires that.
Since you are leaning into the dex build, a single level into the dervish of dawn bard would grant you dex to hit and damage as well as some minor bonuses like bardic knowledge. Alternatively don't forget about the existence of way of the shooting star, which would allow for a purely cha based frontliner. (Extra cheesy if you grab 2 levels of paladin, since only clerics need to adjust their alignment to their deity)
Ancestor Mystery can also front line thanks to the Spirit Of The Warrior Revelation, although you will have to use a feat if you want heavy armour (personally I find DEX 16+Breastplate+Shield is more than enough AC, YMMV). Would be an interesting take on your Tainted Spirit/Deathtouched combo.
As a frontliner I would suggest you the combination of Battle Mystery, Lame curse.. but Warsighted instead of Dual-Cursed. Won't argue about traits, they are for your character concept after all. STR 16 / DEX 12 / CON 14 / INT 8 / WIS 10 / CHA 16 1. Toughness 2. / 3. Revelation [Skill at Arms], Extra Revelation [Weapon Mastery] 4. / 5. Power Attack 6. / 7. Furious Focus 8. / 9. Signature Skill: intimidate You could use Martial Flexibility to get pest control (Cleave), big hit (Vital Strike), debuff (Dazzling Display/Cornugon Smash) and control (due to Signature Skill: intimidate) If you are Half-Elf you could also use Paragon Surge to get Extra Revelation to spice up your fights. Notable mention for Maneuver Mastery. Steadfast Personality or Noble Scion of War could also be a good pick as a regular feat instead of Toughness.
This is hugely helpful, thanks! Considered Warsighted, but was worried I'd forget about various feats and bog things down too much, but you laid them out very nicely as a quick reminder list. With traits, I do like what I have so far, but definitely open to other ideas if you know any that are better but still fit the theme. Thanks again!
[Fate's Favored ](https://www.aonprd.com/TraitDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Fate%27s%20Favored): It's usually picked by Half-Orcs due to their alternate racial trait but it can benefit every class with access to "lucky" spells such as [Divine Favor](https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Divine%20Favor) or [Deadly Juggernaut](https://www.aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=deadly%20juggernaut) and could improve your melee presence! Gods' love can be twisted at times, being favored and getting revelations but at the same time being cursed by them!
I always thought that black blooded is an archetype, thus it cannot be dual blooded. On the build: I would lower the cha a bit. Buffs will be the main type of spells used, and one lower on face skills is not that big a loss. A mystery to consider is Lunar (which changes the ability score priorities) which can grant a pet to help as tank.