It’s been a while since I’ve posted new content for Pathfinder 2nd Edition, but I haven’t stopped writing it (it just takes a long time). I’m still getting caught up on the Advanced Player’s Guide, and the last remaining class to cover is the Oracle.
To that end, I’ve explored the Oracle’s “Mysteries” (their subclass, not some mysterious part of the class or something). I really like how much stuff you get from your mystery and how much it can define your role in the party, but as usual with Paizo there’s a huge power range for the available options and at least one option is arguably unplayable.
I’ll almost certainly make improvements as I get my head around the Oracle’s class feats.
While I agree that Ancestors is by far the worst mystery, it isn’t completely unplayable. If you pick up actions which aren’t favoured by any particular ancestor, such as Raise a Shield or alchemical items, you can fill out your turns as well as making expert Strikes, using skills like Feint or Demoralise, or Casting a Spell without incurring the wrath of your guiding ancestor.
Also, because you don’t recommend Archetypes: feats like Bardic Lore, Gossip Lore or Loremaster Dedication are very useful for the Lore oracle, as is the Scrollmaster dedication’s Bestiary Scholar, since you can spare skill increases for Charisma skills and still be fairly good at Recalling Knowledge. I especially like Loremaster Dedication owing to the feat True Hypercognition, which is great fun.