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JonathonWilder
2012-09-05, 02:10 PM
This thread is connected to this thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254519
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White Magic
The Oracle sat quietly in his chair, twirling his thumbs, and waiting with some measure of impatience. The fact that he knew exactly when what was going to happen was going to happen did not calm him in the slightest. He hated the waiting as much as anyone else, but for different reasons. It was just so darned boring. “Finally,” he muttered, about a tenth of a second before the rapping came at the door. He paused to assume his best spot and brushed the hair from his eyes. He waved to his attendant, who smiled at him warmly before going to open the door. Foolish woman. He would have to make up a story to upset her later. Something about her son, that would show her proper place.
“Greetings, Senator Wrythor. You are most welcome. All is well with you personally, I see. It pleases me to renew our acquaintance.” He smiled.
The Senator was unnerved, but chose not to make a display. “Greetings, Seer. I have needs of your …” he managed before being cut off. “Yes, and though you will protest it once, you will agree to the price of forty thousand gold.”
“But, that is…” The Senator stopped himself, and then continued, “acceptable.” He swallowed then smiled wryly. “So is there actually anything that you do not know?”
“Actually, yes. What is it exactly that you want me to do?” said the Oracle with an eager, almost hungry look in his eyes. All hope of maintaining a semblance of dignity left the Senator and he stared at the Oracle in total incredulity. “But you have agreed… That is to say, how could you know…? I am sorry, what?”
“I only got the silly details in my last vision, I know nothing of the specifics of what you want of me. I just know how I am going to feel about it when you tell me, and I am so looking forward to that. Quickly, Quickly, it will only take a minute!”
The Senator shook his head, but under the withering gaze of the Oracle he opened he decided to speak rather than risk any further incident. “I need to find the way to the city of the Nine Seals, to place a wreath on the throne of an ancient Queen and convey the wishes of the government to the Verdant Isle.”
The Oracle sat up in his chair. “That sounds totally amazing,” his eyes lit up with enthusiasm, and he got an eerie, far away look. “The seals are in the hands of a crying man, whose beard drags in the river, as he stands on planks and speaks to the wind. Seek him in the heart of the forest.” He blinked. “Now tell me I can come too!” He grinned at the man, who looked about for help. “Under no circumstances, my son,” said the caretaker, shaking her head. “The Forest is no place for a ten year old.” Her tone brooked no appeal.

The Colour White
White is the colour of the spirit world, granting perception, influence and power to the intangible soul. To incorporate Colours into an existing campaign, allocate them to deities; in the case of White, deities of knowledge or the afterlife, ruling gods, or indeed any deity at all might have influence over the domains of Intervention, Omniscience and Summoning. Next allow Specialist Wizards to choose a Colour as their primary school. The colours are opposed to each other in the following manner by default, but please feel free to add in your own chromatic oppositional restrictions:
Red (energy) ←→ Indigo (thought)
Blue (pattern) ←→ Orange (disorder)
White (divine) ←→ Black (mundane)
Yellow (life) ←→ Purple (death)
Green (nature) ←→ Brown (artifice)
Grey (form) ←→ Chrome (function)
For ease of use, the complete list of Black spells is shown after the White Spell descriptions on page 22. An alternate limitation might be Brown or Grey magic.
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The Sphere of Intervention
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A fundamental premise of most d20 fantasy worlds is that gods and spirits of the other world like to meddle. Every cleric calls on them for assistance, and every one of them gets the help they ask for, within the limits of their level and memorised spells. Intervention is the sphere for those powers that can be evoked by calling on the other world to perform action upon the mundane universe.
Like most of the Yellow spheres, the spells this White sphere contains are classically associated to divine or clerical magic, so you may feel it is inappropriate to grant this sphere to arcane spell casters. If you do allow these spells broader access be very aware of the consequence to the cleric class, as several key abilities that only they have will subsequently be shared with arcane casters. Justifying allowing this style of magic is easy enough: arcane spell casters that learn Intervention
magic do not draw upon specific deities or even their own natural piety toward a particular alignment as their source of influence on the other world, but rather draw directly upon the power of magic itself as a force, and through their command of arcane power, gain the needed respect and influence needed to call upon these effects. This justification is not without fantasy examples, quite the opposite.
This is a very powerful miscellaneous sphere, with many useful effects to bolster, assist and mitigate the abilities of others.

The Domain of Intervention
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Practically any deity at all might grant the powers of this domain. In fact, you might say that this is a Common domain, and all deities offer it to their clerics. The principle of intervening on behalf of a supplicant is intrinsic to the very nature of divine magic, so this is not at all out of concept. Any cleric might gain access to these powers. Note that there are some spells that have been historically classed as “good” spells (consecrate, gentle repose) but this does not preclude or limit this sphere to good aligned clerics. The ability to Intervene is indiscriminate as regards morality.
The base domain ability for the domain of Intervention grants the supplicant access to the Knowledge (religion) skill as a class skill if it was not one already, and also grants a +3 natural bonus to this skill.
The advanced domain power of Intervention grants the devotee the ability to call on the powers to protect them, as per the spell Sanctuary, except as noted below. This ability can be used a number of rounds per day equal to the character’s class levels, and these rounds do not need to be sequential. It is a free action to activate this ability on the characters turn. The DC of the will roll to avoid this affect is 5 + the character’s Charisma bonus + the character’s class level.
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The Sphere of Omniscience
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Omniscience consists of awareness and pure perception. Some theoreticians attribute the powers of this sphere to a natural sixth sense or so-called “Sight” that is natural to all spiritual entities, even those that are currently living or bound to mortal forms. They further speculate that this sensory capacity remains blinded when we are within corporeal form, accessible only with the power of this kind of magic. Others say that this sphere allows casters to tap into the awareness of the gods, and thus share in their superlative perceptive abilities. Some, in turn, speculate that there are no otherworld elements to this sphere at all, and magic itself is simply giving extra senses where none existed before, or amplifying the natural faculties of the spell-casting individuals in some other way.
Irrespective of the theoretical origins of this sphere, it grants extremely powerful miscellaneous abilities. The ability to know what is transpiring, or to grant insight into the true nature of things is extremely useful in so many ways. In times of conflict it is often this kind of power that governs the course of wars or skirmishes, determining victor and victim.
Though there are no direct offensive abilities here, one indirect one (True Strike), and only very few defensive ones at the highest of levels, nevertheless this is a very powerful sphere both in combat and out of it.

The Domain of Omniscience
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Much like the other white domains, almost any deity might grant access to the powers of Omniscience. It has particular association with the concepts of knowledge, wisdom and forethought, so it is likely to have favour with any being whose influence includes these.
The base domain power of Omniscience grants the devotee a +2 insight bonus to the skills Listen and Spot, making them both class skills if they were not already.
The advanced domain ability of Omniscience gives the devotee a limited form of prescience. This extra sensory perception gives the character a cumulative insight bonus of +2 that is usable for one round per level per day, which do not need to be consecutive rounds. Activating this insight bonus is a free action, and when this ability is used, the character must choose one of the following areas to apply it to until their next action:
• Attack rolls
• Armour class
• One saving throw (will, fortitude, reflex)
• Damage from one weapon used
• Spell DC for one spell the character casts.

The Sphere of Summoning
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While the sphere of Omniscience allows sensing things that are elsewhere in time or space, or enhances the ability to perceive of the mage; and the sphere of Intervention allows the caster to draw power or abilities from beings from elsewhere, often leading to interacting with them with mutual respect; Summoning is something else entirely. The power that this sphere holds is much more direct and immediate, and relies upon universal laws and structures that govern how interaction between different dimensions occur. This sphere allows the caster to summon the physical essence of a being from elsewhere, and command it to act as the character wills.
Unlike the power of command over others that the purple sphere of Dominion holds, or indeed the influence over others that the yellow sphere of Motive allows, this power does not convey any influence over creatures belonging to the natural realm. There is some aspect to Summoning that seems to limit the will and fundamental abilities of the creature summoned. Some have speculated that this is because only the mystical and physical nature of the creature is in fact called, and not the entirety of the creature at all.
Some elements of this sphere allow communication to other planes of existence. Unlike Intervention, communication does not convey affiliation, and any interactions must be coerced or called through other magic.

The Domain of Summonings
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Like the other White domains, any deity might grant Summoning to their priests. Specific entities renown for having hoards of creatures at their beck and call are particularly likely to favour it. Before allowing this sphere to be used by a cleric it is best to create a specific list of relevant CR creatures that spells of a particular pantheon or deity are likely to call. It is, for example, bad form for a demonic god to allow summoning of angelic creatures. You can use the default alignments from the standard summoned creatures as a guide (replicated on page 23).
The base domain ability of Summoning grants an insight bonus of +3 to the Knowledge (The Planes) skill, and makes it a class skill if it was not one before. Furthermore, it allows the devotee to select any extra planer or elemental language as one of their initial or subsequent language choices at no penalty.
The advanced domain power for Summoning allows the devotee to choose a specific plane of existence upon which to focus (not their home plane). When summoning creatures from this other plane the caster is capable of ensuring they get only the larger and more powerful specimens of creatures, giving them automatically maximum hit points for creatures of their type. Further, the devotee gains +2 insight bonus on all rolls to do with creatures from this plane, including skill rolls, attack rolls, armour class against their attacks, DC of spells cast upon them and saving throws against their powers.

Banned Color: Black
If you are using the standard d20 character classes, you will need to know what spells to limit a specialist in the colour White from casting. As per the notes on page 2, the opposing Colour to White is Black, so the default limitation is with this colour. So you can assume that a Specialist Wizard who chooses White will not be able to learn or cast any of the following spells, which is the spell list for Black:
Magic Stone, Bear's Endurance , Meld into Stone, Stone Shape, Spike Stones, Stoneskin, Wall of Stone, Bear's Endurance, Mass, Move Earth, Stone Tell, Wall of Iron, Statue, Iron Body, Earthquake, Resistance, Endure Elements, Resist Energy, Shield Other, Remove Curse, Death Ward, Dismissal, Disrupting Weapon, Banishment, Repel Metal or Stone, Trap the Soul, Freedom, Erase, Undetectable Alignment, Dispel Magic, Invisibility Purge, Nondetection, Protection from Energy, Quench, Break Enchantment, Globe of Invulnerability, lesser, Spell Immunity, Spell Resistance, Antimagic Field, Globe of Invulnerability, Dispel Magic, greater, Spell Immunity, greater, Imprisonment, M.'s Disjunction

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The Oracle
The Sight. Sixth Sense. ESP. Divination. It goes by many names, and is capable of manifesting many effects, but it all comes down to one fundamental concept. Oracles can see (and hear and communicate with) things that others cannot. They have affinity with the kind of magic that enhances perception, or extends it into new kinds of sensing, and even that which allows the caster to call on other places and other entities for assistance or intervention.
Oracles can see into all kinds of things, and this power in the hands of an arcane spell caster can generate social, political, even religious power and conflict the likes of which can form or destroy entire kingdoms, or affect the course of history. While they might try to sit above the game of life, attesting to or even attaining true neutrality, the fact remains that knowledge is power, and truthful Oracle is more than worth their weight in gold. Some truths are not palatable to those that might ask for them, however, and therein lies the Oracle’s classic dilemma: Tell the truth and face the consequences of being the bringer of bad tidings, or to lie for survival’s sake, or even to colour the true perceptions and foretelling with doggerel and rhyme so as to disguise the meaning of unsavory news to the supplicant. Mythology and fantasy abound with many examples of Oracles facing this sort of problem, as well as that of actually being believed in the first place. In a d20 fantasy universe, the latter problem is less likely to occur however, as most if not all accept the power of magic by default. Note that in some worlds the Oracle might be called a Summoner, or even just a White Mage.

Adventures
Oracles are most often portrayed as static individuals that are the end of specific quests to find answers. Adventurers, Royalty or even ordinary folk are likely to come knocking at the door of an Oracle, rather than the reverse. Those few Oracles that adventure are often drawn out to act on behalf of one prophecy or another, leading to the circular question of whether any prophesy is self fulfilling or indeed what role free will might play in any universe where the future is an open book to be read by any with the right eyes to see it. As a consequence of their own abilities, Oracles might form the core driving force behind any adventure. They may know of an unpleasant reality that will come to pass if certain other things are not stopped or do not happen. Or, they might instead be required to act by the powers that intervene at their request, much as clerics often receive the same kind of calling (or demand).

Characteristics
Oracles seek to develop powers of the mind, and as such are likely to be wise, intelligent and
charismatic. They tend to neglect physical concerns, being more likely to be lost in their perceptions than focused on the material. They are empowered with White magic, and thus able to perceive things that others cannot, and further to call on assistance from other powers to intervene on their behalf, both
indirectly and through direct summoning.
Oracles can develop vast stores of esoteric knowledge but are likely to be incompetent with any practical matters. Their involvement with the things going on in their own mind can make them somewhat vulnerable in direct combat, though they have many abilities that are useful or even vital in conflicts. Though they do not study combat, the very nature of their power allows them some remarkable advantages if they should ever be involved in it; knowing how an opponent will strike or where to be so as to not face the full brunt of a magical attack are among the advantages that an Oracle might manifest.

Alignment
Oracles try to maintain a state of neutrality; their perceptions do push them toward acceptance of the inevitable, and thus simply observing the dynamic and continuing balance between all things. Many members of this class rebel against that impulse, in direction of their own benefit or toward the sense of the good of all, but all feel that fundamental distance and loneliness that knowing the ultimate truths or even possibilities can bring. Oracles are unlikely to feel a pull towards either of the alignment poles of chaos or law for similar reasons; mundane rules and breaking them is petty.

Religion
Oracles often find themselves at odds with established religions, some of which may feel that an Oracle is treading on their own turf. As such, Oracles might be branded as heretics and cast out of established faiths, or even hunted down for their powers. On the flipside, they can serve as valuable members of any religion, especially religions that do not hold that their own deities are omniscient, so they may be treated as respected magical members of any congregation. Intrinsically, an Oracle is likely to not experience much doubt as far as the nature of faith and religion is concerned, as they have too many insights into the truth of things. They are likely to find religions that have correct teachings and honest appraisals of the nature of the other worlds appealing, irrespective of alignment.

Background
An Oracle’s power is intrinsic. It often manifests in early childhood, and many potential members of this class might go mad or be seen as such due to their inability to relate to the normal world. The lucky or more able to manage of these might seek to avoid their powers, or even to multiclass with their normal profession. Oracles do not require study to gain their abilities; they simply can manifest them at will, or gain insight into them as they develop mentally.
Oracles might be downtrodden and hunted for their powers, or hide them, or might seek to blot their capabilities out with alcohol or other drugs. They might be highly respected and sought after by all and sundry for their abilities, and they may feel a calling to use their powers for some greater purpose. All of this means that Oracles might come from any walk of life, and indeed might be anyone anywhere.

Races
There is no correlation between the classic d20 fantasy races and the Oracle class. Anyone might have the gift for these abilities. In some universes there would be a correlation between psionic ability and this style of magic, so any race that begins with or has a tendency toward psychic powers is likely to have more numerous individuals that manifest these kind of abilities. In the Chrome world the mysterious Thuul have slightly more Oracles than other species.

Other Classes
Oracles often multiclass; the abilities they manifest have infrequent practical application. Those that specialize in these abilities might be seen as competition to priests or indeed they might be seen as holy people themselves. This can create conflict with classic clerics. That being said, Oracles get on well with almost any class that will accept their visions and perceptions with grace.

Role
White magic has many powerful uses. An Oracle is a valuable addition to any party, both as a primary spell caster in combat and for information purposes out of it. They have no direct damaging powers, but can summon beings to act on their behalf with more than enough damage dealing powers, a fact that frees them up to act in a directory or advisory capacity. They are likely to be able to find weaknesses in opponents, can strengthen and assist allies and generally be a powerful cross between mage and cleric. Their lack of healing magic and direct offensive power mean that they are unlikely to be effective lone adventurers, and will require other spell caster assistance in groups.


Game rule information
Abilities
The Oracle’s primary statistic is Wisdom. Their spell abilities rely on mental will and perception so as to sense what they are able to, and mentally be tough enough to survive the images.
Secondarily, Intelligence is important for key class abilities and skills, and Charisma can be useful in convincing others to not shoot the messenger. They also benefit from good Dexterity for its dodge bonuses and Constitution for its improvement to survivability. Strength is not important to an Oracle.

Alignment
A Oracle can choose any alignment, though most tend toward true neutrality with respect to good and evil as well as law and chaos.

Hit Die: D4
Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Wis), Knowledge (Any) (Int), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points at 1st level: (4+Intelligence modifier) x 4
Skill points at Each Additional Level: 4+Intelligence modifier

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Class Features
Weapon and Armour Proficiency
Oracles do not learn any armor or shields, and only have proficiency in the classic Wizard weapons of club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow and quarterstaff. They suffer full arcane spell failure chance if they should cast spells while dressed in armor or carrying a shield.

Spells and Spheres:
Oracles cast arcane spells, of the same kind as Wizards, Sorcerers, and Bards. They must prepare their spells in advance in the same way that Wizards or Clerics do, though they do learn the ability to spontaneously cast spells of one chosen domain (see below).
They are required to have Wisdom sufficient to have any spell available (10+spell level). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Oracle's spell is 10 + the spell level + the caster's Wisdom modifier.
They are restricted to a limited number of spells per day as per Table White 7: The Oracle, Spells and Special Abilities. They receive bonus spells if they have a high Wisdom score as per Player's Handbook Table 1-1: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells.
An Oracle is only able to cast spells of the White colour designation. A complete spell list is included in the appendix at the end of this section. No other spells can be learned. They have access to all White spells of every level they have available to cast, requiring no spellbook or learning.
Further, a Oracle may choose one of the White Domains as an area of specialty, and they are granted the base domain power of that domain, and also the ability to spontaneously cast spells on that domain list. Some Oracles thus specialise in Summoning, others in Intervention and yet others in Omniscience. The spontaneous casting ability is identical to a cleric’s ability to spontaneously cast healing magic, except it is limited to the spells on the one domain list that the character has chosen and not to all healing magic.
The Oracle gains access to the basic domain power of their chosen specialist domain at 1st level, and the advanced domain power at 5th level.

Lore
Oracles gain insight into all knowledge without need to study. They are capable of intuit in depth general knowledge on any topic. Except as noted, this ability is in game effect identical to and cumulative with the ability of the Loremaster class of the same name, and the Bardic Knowledge ability. Through it they gain the ability to know of legends or information regarding various topics.
The Oracle adds their level and Intelligence modifier and consults the notes on page 28 of the Player's Handbook for what information this ability yields on the subject in question. This power requires no study, the knowledge is directly granted through the Oracle’s natural intuition.

Extra Sensory Perception (Ex)
At 2nd level and every three levels thereafter (5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 20th), the Oracle gains one Extra Sensory Perceptive ability of their choice from the following list. These abilities stem from the Oracle’s superlative powers of foresight and sensory enhancement, and their subsequent capacity for pre-emptive action.
Find Weakness
Make a Lore roll versus DC 20 + the challenge rating of an opponent to gain an insight into it's weaknesses. If the opponent has no weaknesses or vulnerabilities, gain a +2 insight bonus to your attack rolls or spell DC against that opponent for the duration of the encounter.
Rapid True Strike
An Oracle must already have the Find Weakness ability in order to quality for Rapid True Strike. The Oracle can use the spell True Strike once per day without having to memorize it, and further, they are capable of casting this spell only as a move equivalent action instead of a standard action. This allows them to use a free five foot step, and strike with a +20 insight bonus to hit with one attack in the same round (avoiding any miss percentage chance that might apply due to concealment). This modification to the spell applies whether or not it is cast using the bonus spell from this ability or through normal spell use.
Intuition
If an Oracle with intuition should fail a skill roll and there are immediate consequences, providing they did not roll a 1 on the original roll, they gain a +4 insight bonus to any immediately subsequent consequence that requires a roll. For example, if an Oracle fails to disarm a trap but does not roll a 1, and it goes off, they gain a +4 insight bonus to save against the subsequent payload of the trap. Or, if they fail to sneak past a guard not rolling a 1, they gain +4 to initiative for the first round of combat.
Uncanny Dodge
The Oracle gains the ability to react to danger on instinct. In situations where caught flatfooted or struck by an invisible opponent, the Oracle retains their Dexterity bonus to armor class (if any). If completely immobilized, they lose this ability.
Improved Uncanny Dodge
The Oracle must have the Uncanny Dodge ability through in order to gain the Improved version. With this ability the Oracle can no longer be flanked, reacting to opponents to either side as easily as a single opponent or opponents in front and behind. This ability denies a Rogue the ability to perform sneak attacks on the Oracle by flanking them, unless the Rogue has at least four more Rogue levels than the target has Oracle levels. If the character already has the Uncanny Dodge ability from another class, the levels from the classes that grant Uncanny Dodge stack to determine the minimum level a rogue must be to flank the character.
Evasion
An Oracle with Evasion can avoid even magical and unusual attacks through their ability to foresee what is about to transpire. If the character makes a successful Reflex save against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save they will instead take no damage. A helpless Oracle does not gain the benefit of evasion, and this ability does not function in heavier than light armour.
Improved Evasion
An Oracle must already have the Evasion ability to qualify for Improved Evasion. This ability works like Evasion except that while the Oracle still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks like Fireball, they also only
suffer half damage on a failed save. As per evasion this ability does not function if the Oracle is unconscious, held or paralysed, or if they are wearing heavier armour than light.
Speak with Animal
Though normally only a power of Green magic, an Oracle with this ability can cast the spell Speak with Animal once per day.
Speak with Plant
The Oracle must have the ability to Speak with Animals to qualify for Speak with Plant. Though normally a power of only Green magic, an Oracle with this ability can cast the spell Speak with Plant once per day.
Speak with Dead
Though normally usable only with Purple magic, an Oracle with this ability can cast the spell Speak with Dead once per day.
Call to Beyond
The Oracle must have the ability Speak with Dead to qualify for this power. The Oracle can cast the spell Contact Other Plane once per day without having to memorize or spontaneously cast it. Furthermore, any loss to mental faculties through failure of this spell is measured in days rather than weeks for any Oracle with the Call to Beyond ability.
Omniscient Vision
The Oracle can use the Vision spell once per day without having to memorize or spontaneously cast it. Furthermore, Vision spell only costs half experience to the Oracle when they have this ability (50 experience points).
Omniscient Grace
An Oracle must already have the Omniscient Vision ability to qualify for Omniscient Grace. The Oracle gains a bonus to all saving throws equal to their Charisma bonus. This ability is identical in effect to Divine Grace, and is not cumulative with it.
Divine Inspiration
The Oracle must have the Call to Beyond and Omniscient Grace abilities to qualify for Divine Inspiration. This ability allows the Oracle once per day to sense what it is like to have the mental faculties of a god. This empowers them with a profound sense of confidence and certainty that lasts one minute per class level. While under the effect of inspiration the character is granted a +10 insight bonus that they may apply to any roll they desire (or their armour class), once per round.
So an Oracle with this ability could choose to gain a +10 bonus to one attack, or one saving throw, or statistic check, or their armour class against one attack only (not for the whole round) once per round. This ability is cumulative with the domain powers of the Omniscience Domain.
Ex-Oracles
Oracles are free to multiclass as per the normal rules. There are some cases of multiclassing with other chromatic magic classes in which the spell casting abilities become cumulative. Please see the Colours of Magic: Chrome for more details.

Intuition, Uncanny Dodge, Improved Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Improved Evasion, Speak with Dead, Call to Beyond, Omniscient Vision, Omniscient Grace, Divine Inspiration