Lysander
2009-06-29, 04:38 PM
This oracle is more like the kobold in OOTS, a being given extraordinary ability rather than a magic expert that carefully studied divination spells.
Oracles are granted their abilities by divine entity or force, and are tied to a appropriate location. An oracle of nature might reside in a forest glade while a divine oracle might live in a temple. People travel great distances to visit an oracle and offer tribute in return for answers. An oracle can set whatever fee they like and can refuse to answer questions though they rarely do so without a strong reason to dislike the petitioner or their question.
An oracle is a great npc to have a party meet, either as a crucial plot point or a resource they can discover on their own. A high enough bardic lore or gather information check might reveal nearby oracles they can choose to visit.
Abilities:
Sacred Hermitage
Oracles live in a place that is sacred to the source of their power. It is always far away from large cities and towns, and many vary from complete isolation in a cave to living in a monastery or small village with only a handful of other people. Oracles can leave their hermitage freely, but lose their oracular abilities for as long as they are away.
Knowing Vision
Oracles have permanent True Seeing, Tongues, Detect Good/Evil/Chaos/Law, Arcane Sight, and Detect Scrying. If someone attempts to scry them, an oracle automatically succeeds at gaining information about the scryer as if winning an opposed caster check. Oracles also automatically succeed at detecting attempts to Hide, Move Silently, or Bluff made by anyone at their hermitage.
Oracular Trance
Once a year a person may ask a precise and not overly broad question of the oracle. The oracle can enter a trance to answer that question, during which they can cast any non-epic divination spell as many times as needed without spell components with a level 20 equivalent caster level, though still subject to casting times and only in the service of that one question. The trance can last up to five hours but if that time is insufficient or the oracle is interrupted the given answer may be incomplete, and they cannot enter another trance for that person until a year has passed. Some questions simply cannot be answered. An oracle may answer a question of their own this way once a year.
Challenges
If an oracle chooses they can create up three challenges to guard their hermitage from intruders or as a test of worthiness. They can dismiss or resume a challenge at will. If a challenge is dispelled, destroyed, or killed an oracle can recreate it after a day. Swapping one challenge for another takes a week of meditation. They may pick three from this list, but only one of each:
*Guards and Wards - As the Guards and Wards spell, but permanent
*Summon Monster VI - A creature that matches the oracle's alignment permanently guards the path to them.
*Maze - An area is permanently trapped to require passing through a maze spell. If the maze cannot be solved in ten minutes it deposits any who enter back where they began, and they cannot proceed without trying to go through another maze spell.
*Symbol of Fear/Symbol of Suggestion - A permanent symbol of fear that causes the petitioner to flee, or a symbol of suggestion that commands them to leave.
*Major Image - A permanent major image, often depicting an illusionary monster or nonexistent chasm.
*Phase Door - A hermitage may be situated past a permanent phase door, either completely hidden but open to all who find it, or obvious but with a riddle that must be answered to pass through. An oracle's magic does not let them construct things, so a barrier must be created by other means and then have the phase door applied to it.
Spell Like Abilities
In addition to their Trance ability, an oracle also receives a small number of spells they can cast daily with a level 10 equivalent caster level. Sometimes they may use these instead of a trance if a question is minor enough, saving a person's yearly question for later. Spells used in an Oracular Trance do not count against these: Prying Eyes 1/day, Scrying/1 day, Invisibility/1 day, Identify/1 day, Alarm/1 day, Sending/1 day, Ventriloquism/1 day
Oracles are granted their abilities by divine entity or force, and are tied to a appropriate location. An oracle of nature might reside in a forest glade while a divine oracle might live in a temple. People travel great distances to visit an oracle and offer tribute in return for answers. An oracle can set whatever fee they like and can refuse to answer questions though they rarely do so without a strong reason to dislike the petitioner or their question.
An oracle is a great npc to have a party meet, either as a crucial plot point or a resource they can discover on their own. A high enough bardic lore or gather information check might reveal nearby oracles they can choose to visit.
Abilities:
Sacred Hermitage
Oracles live in a place that is sacred to the source of their power. It is always far away from large cities and towns, and many vary from complete isolation in a cave to living in a monastery or small village with only a handful of other people. Oracles can leave their hermitage freely, but lose their oracular abilities for as long as they are away.
Knowing Vision
Oracles have permanent True Seeing, Tongues, Detect Good/Evil/Chaos/Law, Arcane Sight, and Detect Scrying. If someone attempts to scry them, an oracle automatically succeeds at gaining information about the scryer as if winning an opposed caster check. Oracles also automatically succeed at detecting attempts to Hide, Move Silently, or Bluff made by anyone at their hermitage.
Oracular Trance
Once a year a person may ask a precise and not overly broad question of the oracle. The oracle can enter a trance to answer that question, during which they can cast any non-epic divination spell as many times as needed without spell components with a level 20 equivalent caster level, though still subject to casting times and only in the service of that one question. The trance can last up to five hours but if that time is insufficient or the oracle is interrupted the given answer may be incomplete, and they cannot enter another trance for that person until a year has passed. Some questions simply cannot be answered. An oracle may answer a question of their own this way once a year.
Challenges
If an oracle chooses they can create up three challenges to guard their hermitage from intruders or as a test of worthiness. They can dismiss or resume a challenge at will. If a challenge is dispelled, destroyed, or killed an oracle can recreate it after a day. Swapping one challenge for another takes a week of meditation. They may pick three from this list, but only one of each:
*Guards and Wards - As the Guards and Wards spell, but permanent
*Summon Monster VI - A creature that matches the oracle's alignment permanently guards the path to them.
*Maze - An area is permanently trapped to require passing through a maze spell. If the maze cannot be solved in ten minutes it deposits any who enter back where they began, and they cannot proceed without trying to go through another maze spell.
*Symbol of Fear/Symbol of Suggestion - A permanent symbol of fear that causes the petitioner to flee, or a symbol of suggestion that commands them to leave.
*Major Image - A permanent major image, often depicting an illusionary monster or nonexistent chasm.
*Phase Door - A hermitage may be situated past a permanent phase door, either completely hidden but open to all who find it, or obvious but with a riddle that must be answered to pass through. An oracle's magic does not let them construct things, so a barrier must be created by other means and then have the phase door applied to it.
Spell Like Abilities
In addition to their Trance ability, an oracle also receives a small number of spells they can cast daily with a level 10 equivalent caster level. Sometimes they may use these instead of a trance if a question is minor enough, saving a person's yearly question for later. Spells used in an Oracular Trance do not count against these: Prying Eyes 1/day, Scrying/1 day, Invisibility/1 day, Identify/1 day, Alarm/1 day, Sending/1 day, Ventriloquism/1 day