Currently I'm working on a half-drow Metal Oracle whose basic schtick is that she was raised by dwarves and thus learned the ways of smithing and enchanting, feeling more of a connection to her adoptive father than her actual blood parents, who died when she was a baby.
Originally I was planning on taking both Drow-Blooded and Drow Magic and using that to take the Half-Drow Paragon feat at 1st level, but I sort of realized that the only real reason to take that feat is to take drow feats for the spell-like abilities later, and if the character is rejecting her drow heritage, it doesn't really make sense. So I'm thinking of dropping Drow Magic so the character can either have Adaptability to take Skill Focus in Spellcraft, or Ancestral Arms to use the awesome-sounding Dwarven Longhammer.
The question is, which to use? I'm told that if I want to get the most bang for my buck in terms of crafting magical items, I need to have as high a Spellcraft as possible to overcome the DCs for not being able to cast some of the necessary spells (
I originally tried to overcome this by concieving a Mystic Theurge build using Oracle and Sorcerer, but was told that it was NOT a good idea). Originally I was told to use Human and take Defiant Luck and Inexplicable Luck, which gives a higher overall bonus (+8 as opposed to +6 Skill Focus grants if you have 10 or more ranks in the skill in question), but I really like the idea of a half-drow doing this.
I've had a love affair with Ancestral Arms for quite a while, often playing half-elf characters solely for the purpose of wielding things like Aldori Dueling Swords or bastard swords at 1st level, and I feel that I can't really spare feats for a weapon proficiency if I want to take as many item crafting feats as soon as I can access them, Craft Magical Arms and Armor chief among them. Plus, taking the Skill At Arms revelation at 1st level lets me use warhammers, which is kind of close. But the idea of a massive hammer like the longhammer of the ARG seems so cool though. I'm aware technically I also have access to the earth breaker, which is a two-handed hammer and a martial weapon, but that's got so much of a connection to the Shoanti that it seems wrong for a character with no relation to them to use one of their most sacred of weapons. And besides, the longhammer has reach.
So...yeah, I'm kind of stuck trying to decide. Any ideas? I've already got the character mostly set up, so I'm not going to change the race to human so I can qualify for Defiant and Inexplicable Luck, before people make that suggestion. Should I try to pump my Spellcraft as high as possible to assure I can stick to the concept of a holy smith capable of crafting weapons and armor for her companions that they'll make into legends? Or should I go for the biggest possible hammer she can swing?
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[PF] Half-Drow Crafting Oracle - Adaptability or Ancestral Arms?
