I guess I should have given Daeran that touch of death ability from the Bones Mystery then.
What's annoying is that molten orb also uses a dex hit roll even those it doesn't seem to mention it in the spell description. I assumed it was just going to be a weaker version of fireball, but its a missile attack apparently.
Did they change grenades to use a hit roll? I do not remember having to roll to hit with grenades in Kingmaker.
Daeran's default / recommended build is weird. He's clearly a buffer / healer, but the game recommends that you give him weapon finesse and rapier focus, even though you can find a crossbow pretty early on that's designed for Oracles.
There's a lot of ways to go with Daeran, none of them easy to get a good action econ out of. Both of the Divine casters are idiot-proofed with Channeling Feats to wean people off of the single-target heals they're used to from other games (Channeling is usually a better deal) but those eat up Feats that they don't have many of in the first place (the weakness of those classes).
Most buffing is done outside of combat and if you're playing well healing doesn't come up that often either (MMO-type heal/damage races aren't really a thing) so it's a good idea to have another action econ for them in combat. For early game Daeran that can be as simple as strategic applications of Demoralize. Other options:
(1) Ploinking with that xBow
Never going to do much damage since he doesn't have any other ranged abilities. If you attack enemy casters and archers you don't need Point Blank/Precise Shot which he can't really afford anyway. He has some decent ranged attack spells like Arrow of Law against higher AC foes and is Spontaneous so comes with more casts to use them.
(2) Rapier/Shields
The game has a lot of good Shields and Rapier has a nice crit range to trigger Outflank chains. Being in melee puts him in position to hit enemies with Archon's Aura (one of the best spells in the game) and Channel as necessary. You'd need Finesse, Outflank, and Mythic Finesse to do decent damage along with Divine Favor/Power.
One thing I've done here which takes a LONG time to come online is to go STR-based to save on Finesse Feats and take advantage of Divine Power/Frightful Aspect so he can Shield Bash with the outstanding late-game bashing shields. It's ok but by then he has so many casts he could just cast full-time instead.
(3) Evo Caster
Since Archon's Aura uses Evo DC this is the most natural way for him to go. Worth it to look closely at the different spells he can get through Second Mystery here but divine spellbook comes with good ones like Sonic Burst, Arrow of Law, and Order's Wrath. Never going to have DCs as high as Nenio but good enough for Core and below. Spontaneous gives him more casts than Sosiel so he'll come online for this earlier. Start with Spell Pen and Mythic Spell Pen (also helps Prayer land) then Evo Focus and Sorcerous Reflex. Late game Stormbolts is pretty good with the Rod that converts Lightning to Unholy.
(4) Second Mystery Nature Mounted
This is probably my favorite for a lot of reasons. Not least is it gives him full Barkskins which can free up a party slot.
Molten Orb sadly is kind of a cursed spell. Ember even takes her Blackened malus casting it. Does trigger a lot of concentration checks I guess. Just doesn't do enough.
Daeran comes with Glitterdust as a spell-like ability. Don't forget, it's pretty good!
Since he's CHR-based Mythic Channeling is a viable option.
It's not great having low STR but it's not the end of the world when there are so many other other ways to boost AB/damage.
Cold Ice Strike is a Swift Action if you don't want to burn a Mythic on Sorcerous Reflex.
There's an item in Blackwater to unlock Lightning spells.
Arrow of Law is a solid spell in this setting.
Sound Burst stun is good vs casters since they usually have low Fort saves.
Storm of Souls comes with Ancestors Second Mystery (that also has some good spells). Check out the range.
Holy Smite/Order's Wrath are also great spells in this setting. Just make sure he doesn't get caught in the blast.
