[PF] Haunted Oracle Curse Effects

[W3bDragon]

I'm currently playing an oracle in a pathfinder game and have the haunted curse. To make my DM's life easier, I decided to create a table that he can roll on to randomly determine the effects of the curse during combat. This table could also be used outside combat if needed.

So far I've come up with this:

Roll d100, if unapplicable, reroll. Roll once per encounter. The effect occurs in 1d10 rounds on the oracle's turn.

00-05 A random unattended object in the area moves in a random direction 1d6 x 5 feet. (1)

06-10 Several unattended objects collect in one random unoccupied square adjaecent to the oracle, turning it into difficult terrain. If all adjaecent squares are occupied, the oracle's square is affected instead.(1)(2)

11-15 Several unattended objects in the area arrange themselves in a random shape around the oracle. (A square, a pentagram, etc.) (1)

16-20 A random unattended object in the area animates and floats in the oracle's square. The item remains floating for 1 round or until caught. The item tries to dodge. (AC 20) (1)

21-25 A random unattended object in the area animates and flies towards the oracle at high speed. Roll an attack with +2 AB which causes 1 point of nonlethal damage. (1)

26-30 A faint demonic voice echoes the oracle in what he says for one round. An oracle that wants to cast a spell in that round must pass a DC 10 concentration check because of the distraction. (3)(4)

31-35 Faint moan or crying originates from the nearest point of cover. (4)

36-40 Faint sound of movement or footsteps originates from the nearest point of cover. (4)

41-45 Ventriloquism effect on the oracle that makes him appear to say a random comment in a random language. (4)

46-50 A gust of wind blows dust or snow as approriate in the oracle's face. DC 10 reflex save or suffer 20% miss chance on next attack taken before next turn. (5)

51-55 A breeze hampers the oracle in some way (blows his cloak onto his face for example) (6)

55-60 Sudden temperature change in the area for one round (50/50 chance of Cold Snap or Heat Wave)

61-65 Sudden wind change in the area for one round (50/50 chance of Wind force going up or down by one step)

66-100 Nothing Happens


1. Unattended objects must weigh 5 pounds or less.
2. A move action that provokes an attack of opportunity spent clearing the debris negates the difficult terrain.
3. A move action spent focusing before casting grants a +2 on that specific concentration check.
4. Everyone near the oracle has a chance to hear this noise. DC 10 to hear, DC 25 to realize its a phantom noise, the oracle gets a +4 on this check because of familiarity
5. A move action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity spent clearing the dust ends the effect. An oracle with blindsense or similar halves this penalty. An oracle with blindsight is unaffected.
6. The oracle is temporarily blinded, deafened, or entangled until he takes a swift action to negate the effect.

Final Note: Malevolent spirits are causing all of these effects. As such, whenever the effect would be beneficial to the oracle, treat the result as "Nothing Happens". For example, if the oracle is being chased by enemies and the random effect would create difficult terrain behind him, which would be beneficial, the effect doesn't happen. Any attempt from the oracle to knowingly exploit these events in a positive way automatically fails. However, the spirits that haunt the oracle are not omniscient and could benefit him unintentionally. For example, if the spirits blow the oracle's cloak onto his face, temporarily rendering him blind, and the next round a creature with a gaze attack rounds the corner, the oracle will still benefit from this unintentional shielding of his eyes, since neither the oracle nor the spirits knew what was about to happen.





I wanted to make it into multiple tables, but I had to constrain myself to 1 roll for ease of use during gameplay.

My current impression is that the odds are a bit too high for something happening every round. I was hoping more along the lines of 20% chance of something to happen on any given round. I might adjust it in an edit later.

Any thoughts or additions are welcome.

Edit: I added more to the table, though its still missing some.
Edit 2: Completed the table and added footnotes.

[Karoht]

I'm currently playing an oracle in a pathfinder game and have the haunted curse. To make my DM's life easier, I decided to create a table that he can roll on to randomly determine the effects of the curse during combat. This table could also be used outside combat if needed.


Interesting. How often do you roll on the table? Beginning of combat? every round? Whenever DM feels it is relevant?

[Psyren]

Not that it's not cool or anything, but the curse by RAW doesn't do anything like that; is this a houserule?

Or more accurately, the only mechanical effects it should have are making it harder for you to retrieve items from storage and causing items you drop to get knocked away from you in a random direction. There's nothing there about creating difficult terrain around you or changing wind speed etc. Anything else should be purely fluff and not affect combat, at least by the rules.

Haunted Curse (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/oracle-curses#TOC-Haunted)

[W3bDragon]

Interesting. How often do you roll on the table? Beginning of combat? every round? Whenever DM feels it is relevant?

That's a good point actually. I was thinking of a roll every round, which is why I included a large zone of "Nothing happens". However, perhaps it would be better to fill the table out completely with random events and roll on it once per encounter only, plus whenever the DM feels relevant outside combat.



Not that it's not cool or anything, but the curse by RAW doesn't do anything like that; is this a houserule?

Or more accurately, the only mechanical effects it should have are making it harder for you to retrieve items from storage and causing items you drop to get knocked away from you in a random direction. There's nothing there about creating difficult terrain around you or changing wind speed etc. Anything else should be purely fluff and not affect combat, at least by the rules.

Haunted Curse (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/oracle-curses#TOC-Haunted)

The haunted curse gives a blanket statement of weird stuff happening. specifically it says:


Haunted: Malevolent spirits follow you wherever you go, causing minor mishaps and strange occurrences (such as unexpected breezes, small objects moving on their own, and faint noises).
Emphasis mine.

Obviously, the only part that has been systematized is the standard action required to get a stored item. However, that seems to our gaming group to be a small part of the bigger curse. It seems to be left up to the DM how he should translate these "minor mishaps and strange occurrences" beyond the simple drawing of a stored item.

A DM could very well rule that the only effect of the haunted curse is the standard action drawing of an item, however we feel that there should be more to the curse.

As for creating difficult terrain etc, I admit that's just creative license on what would be flavorful and interesting beyond just saying "For the 100th time, a rock flies in a random direction doing absolutely nothing."

[Psyren]

Emphasis mine.


The DM/playgroup can make crunch out of anything you want, but that doesn't make it stop being a houserule. RAW consists only of the stated mechanics.

There is nothing at all wrong with houserules of course, I just wanted to be sure you knew that the curse did not actually do any of those things as written.

*searches for Zaq's "for the love of Pelor" quote*

[W3bDragon]

The DM/playgroup can make crunch out of anything you want, but that doesn't make it stop being a houserule. RAW consists only of the stated mechanics.

There is nothing at all wrong with houserules of course, I just wanted to be sure you knew that the curse did not actually do any of those things as written.

*searches for Zaq's "for the love of Pelor" quote*

I agree indeed its not RAW. However, I feel its a worthwhile expansion of the effects of curse in a flavorful way.

Anyway, going back to the original point. I'm starting to like the idea of fully expanding the table and just roll on it once. I'll get cracking on that, though any ideas people can throw in will be useful. I'll edit the OP.

[Curious]

*searches for Zaq's "for the love of Pelor" quote*

For the love of the Burning Hate? :smallconfused:

[Karoht]

I would leave the big strip of 'nothing happens'
If something happens every time one starts combat, it's just going to be expected. Having some 'nothing' removes the expectation but keeps the anticipation.

Just some thoughts.

[W3bDragon]

I would leave the big strip of 'nothing happens'
If something happens every time one starts combat, it's just going to be expected. Having some 'nothing' removes the expectation but keeps the anticipation.

Just some thoughts.

I like the idea of anticipation rather than expectation. I edited the table accordingly and fleshed it out. I'll try this out over the next few sessions and see how it goes.

Thanks for the help and if anyone else has any more ideas, let me know.

[Yora]

The problem I see is that this is a lot of extra work for the GM for almost no real effect on combat. I think this would only slow down things a lot and get annoying really soon.