Continuing with this series of remarks on Open Design’s Divine Favor, today I’ll look at Divine Favor: The Oracle. My wife Katie is playing an oracle in our current campaign and having fun with it. I thought it looked rather limited, but I can see the roleplaying potential in it. Oracle really feels like it should be an NPC class to me, though, because of both the limitations and the benefits. An NPC oracle as a supporting character could be awesome, but I think I’d get frustrated playing one.
Introduction
Unlike other entries in the Divine Favor series, there aren’t a lot of tips on how to maximize a character build, tips on strategy, or ideas for roleplaying. This intro, instead, offers up New Curses. There are good ones — you’re a coward, you’re a drunk, you’re mute. One of the key problems I have with the class are these build-in limitations. The powers you get in return a great, but roleplaying some of these things would be severely limiting in practice.
New Mysteries
Clockwork is cool, as if allows you to keep up with and leverage technological advances. If you’re in a more steampunk-ish campaign, perhaps with the Gunslinger character class present, this could be cool. Moon makes sense, and I wonder why this mystery wasn’t in the core class writeup. Seriously, “moon” and “oracle” are words that belong together. Old Gods is also awesome, and I’m immediately jumping not to the Cthulhu Mythos but the character Melisandre in A Song of Ice and Fire. I represent the voice of gods you’ve never heard of! so much story and character potential in this option. Plague gives me thoughts of Warhammer chaos, or Old Testament curses. As does Snakes, for that matter. Wine could be fun, except you get revelations when plastered, which could again be limited. Okay, I could play some of these as player characters, but more than most classes they’d really have to tie into the setting and/or metaplot.
New Feats
These can really help reinforce the utility of the class. Divine Intervention allows you to use a spell slot for another saving throw equal to the spell level. Other feats allow you to pump up your mystery spells.
Summary
This supplement is good, but not as solid as the other Divine Favor installments. I’m not blaming the fine people at Open Design for this; Oracle as a player character class is a tough row to hoe. I would use this as a sourcebook in putting together NPCs for religious orders, having oracles in major temples, roadside shrines, even wandering the streets of cities, as supporting characters. As with other Divine Favor entries, this does really fuel ideas on how I want to use oracles — and I do want to use them now, after pretty much blowing them off (other than Katie’s character, of course) up to this point. SA nice step toward redeeming the class, a valiant effort.
Buy Divine Favor: The Oracle from Open Design
- Berin’s remarks on Divine Favor: The Druid
- Berin’s Remarks on Divine Favor: The Paladin
- Berin’s Remarks on Divine Favor: The Oracle
- Berin’s Remarks on Divine Favor: The Cleric
- Berin’s Remarks on Divine Favor: The Inquisitor
Nice review! I agree that it seems more suited to a very memorable NPC rather than a PC.
Posted by thorynn | November 2, 2011, 1:42 pmI actually kind of fell into the Oracle. The intro game to Pathfinder I ended up as an Oracle (which was a really crummy build!) but I liked the flavor enough to make it my first full-on character. In my head she’s mysterious, spiritual, connected to otherworldly forces, which is why she’s haunted (not because it’s a cheesy excuse of a curse) and now she’s carrying around these mastework fortune telling cards. Now I just need to work that into what she does. I need a creative DM!
But I’ve also seen other oracles played well. We had a blind oracle that kept tripping and running into things. And another mute one that wanted to create a sign language to communicate with in-game.
The spells though – they take a lot of getting used to. I’m pretty satisfied overall with her now though.
Hope Katie enjoys her character!
Posted by Stacy Lang | November 2, 2011, 1:45 pm