Oreni Tactics

Oreni has a lot of options, which can be a bit paralyzing when it gets to his turn and there is no obvious best choice. Keep some of the following in mind if you get stuck. Also, when reading this, don't forget that you now have a staff of necromancy that can do some of this without using spell slots.

“First, take care of head”

Although built to attack, Oreni has some defensive abilities. As one of the frailest of the Unlikely Six, he should use these when he can.

If the fight looks serious, the very first thing Oreni should ask on the first turn is "do I have displacement running?". If not, cast it. A 50% miss chance is almost the same as doubling your hit points.

Next, three-dimensional movement is a huge tactical advantage. When trying to be effective while keeping out of harms way, being ten feet over someone's head is a lot different than being ten feet in front of them. It won't always be useful, but seriously consider casting fly on yourself. Its duration is measured in minutes, so you might be able to cast it before combat even starts.

Oreni learned reduce person to mess with opponents, but it's actually not a terrible spell to invoke on himself. Oreni's combat abilities are based on Dexterity, not Strength. So, while this spell reduces combat potency for most targets, it actually makes Oreni better (gives -2 Strength, +2 Dex). This makes him a) better at ranged attacking and b) harder to hit (with the Dex bonus and a size adjustment bonus, his AC goes up by two). It also lasts for minutes, so not a horrible use of a first level spell. The drawback is that there are probably better uses for an action. Still, if you can plan ahead, or have an emergency, it can help.

Another "cast before charging into combat spell" is resist energy. One nice thing about this spell is that it scales in several ways with level: at Oreni's level, it lasts for nearly two hours and negates 30 points of elemental damage per attack.

“Blast ’em all!”

Oreni was built for doing elemental damage (with a heavy side emphasis on necromancy), and has a number of spells that deal damage to anyone in the area of effect, no matter how many of them there are. So Oreni's next question on his turn is "can I blast a lot of the enemy at once"?

Something to mention: that +1/per damage die added to electrical attacks really adds up. For a lightning bolt, for example, it averages out to gaining an additional 3d6 damage. So blast with electricity unless you know that's a bad idea.

Oreni has a lot of choices when blasting (maybe too many). If you look at the numbers, there are some weak choices that should never be used, some go to moves that should be the first choices, and other choices that provide good alternates for special situations (e.g. target immune to electricity or vulnerable to cold). Numbers work out like this at your current level (the tradeoffs will change as you increase in level):

Blast	Spell level	Damage roll	Damage average	Range	Action	Defense	SR
Burning hands	1	5d4	12.5	15 foot cone	standard	Reflex (DC 18) halves	yes
Magic missile	1	5d4+5	17.5	220 feet	standard	None	yes
Intensified magic missile	2	6d4+6	21	220 feet	full	None	yes
Vampiric touch	3	6d6	21	30 feet	standard	Touch AC	yes
Shocking grasp	1	5d6+5	22.5	30 feet	standard	Touch AC	yes
Intensified burning hands	2	10d4	25	15 foot cone	full	Reflex (DC 18) halves	yes
Scorching ray	2	12d6	42	55 feet	standard	Touch AC	yes
Dragon’s breath	4	12d6	42	varies	standard	Reflex (DC 21) halves	yes
Cone of cold	5	12d6	42	60 foot cone	standard	Reflex (DC 22) halves	yes
Breath weapon	-	12d6	42	60 foot line	standard	Reflex (DC 23) halves	no
Intensified shocking grasp	2	10d6+10	45	30 feet	full	Touch AC	yes
Lightning bolt	3	10d6+10	45	120 foot line	standard	Reflex (DC 20) halves	yes
Intensified lightning bolt	4	12d6+12	54	120 foot line	full	Reflex (DC 20) halves	yes
Dragon’s breath (electric)	4	12d6+12	54	60 foot line	standard	Reflex (DC 21) halves	yes
Chain lightning	6	12d6+12	54	900 foot (branching)	standard	Reflex (DC 23) halves	yes

Some comments:

1. At the moment, since chain lightning is your only sixth level spell, you don't need to think about "saving" a sixth level slot for some different spell later. At this level, if there are multiple targets worth blasting, they are worth blasting with chain lightning at least once during a combat (probably as the opening move). The only trick to the spell is that its targeting requirements are a little tricky.
2. intensified shocking grasp is pretty much the reason Oreni took the Intensify Spell feat; however, it only effects a single target.
3. if you ever go to sleep having not used your breath weapon, you probably did something wrong. It is a better choice than lightning bolt, even though it does slightly less damage and has less range, because it has a higher save DC and doesn't cost you a spell.
4. As you approach 15th level, intensified lightning bolt will go from a weak choice to an awesome one.
5. Because you have dragon's breath and Intensify Spell, you might be better off exchanging cone of cold for something else. At current levels, they do the same damage, yet dragon's breath is much more versatile, though cone of cold has twice the range. Though dragon's breath caps out at 12th level, with Intensify Spell it grows just like cone of cold until 17th level, while using the same spell slot. Something like telekinesis, teleport or baleful polymorph might be more broadly useful.
6. Looking at the list, it's hard to make a case for keeping burning hands at all. It is almost always better to use intensified shocking grasp and, even in the cases where it is not (i.e. you need to do fire damage, or you want to affect multiple targets, Oreni now has better choices available). Some decent choices for replacement: shield (save money on scrolls), protection from evil (mostly for the "get an additional save to mental effects" part), feather fall (situational, but can save a life, especially once flying becomes more common).

“Screw ’em all!”

Oreni isn't as good at "battlefield control" as Naerai is, but does have some choices for messing with a large number of enemies at once. In some cases, this might be a better idea than blasting them, because the problems will last longer for them than damage (on the other hand, the damage might kill them outright). So, the next question is "Can I neutralize many enemies at once?"

The main choice here is wall of stone, but fear, circle of death (from staff), waves of fatigue (from staff), dimension door, halt undead and dispel magic can be situationally useful.

“Screw that guy”

If facing more singular enemies, Oreni should first think "should I blast this guy with intensified shocking grasp?" If the answer is no, turn to necromancy instead. Either magic jar or enervation are very solid choices, particularly since Spell Focus (Necromancy) makes them harder to resist. Second choices (mainly because their save DCs are a lot lower, and require some knowledge about the target) would be touch of idiocy, ghoul touch, command undead, ray of enfeeblement and chill touch.

“Poke it with a stick”

When in close quarters, Oreni is usually better off using his rapier than casting spells, especially if the rapier still has a spell stored in it. In the first place, the rapier has a really good change of scoring a critical, which does quite a bit of extra damage. Second, a stored vampiric touch or intensified shocking grasp going off in an enemy's face is like getting an extra spell for the day.

Oreni doesn't have as good a chance to hit with this as others of the Six, but does have some tricks. First, the once per day bonus from his Shoaldream ability can be quite usefully applied to a sword strike. Second, he has a wand of true strike which can boost a strike on the next round.

Last resorts

If none of these applies, Oerni is probably best served by holding his spells. Try one of the following instead:

• Move to a better position (note that a lot of your blasts work in a line, so moving until your enemies line up without allies getting in the way is a good idea, and another reason why flight is useful).
• Discharge an instance of an ongoing effect (e.g. chill touch).
• Cast true strike from a wand, to set up a move the next round (particularly useful with telekinesis).
• Drink a potion
• Cast grease from a wand
• Store a spell in the rapier