Why Oracle?

[ArqArturo]

Don't get me wrong, I love the Oracle, I loooove the Oradin, but, here's my beef with the Oracle's name... The Oracle does not tell the future. Commonly when I hear Oracle, I think of something that tells the future, or in D&D/D20 terms, that can use Divinations.

Oracles are more like divine sorcerers.

Now, when one of my players made an oracle, I gave the character a daily use of Augury, but it had to do a ritual to do it (meditation, prayer, copious amounts of stimulants, that kind of thing), and when it leveled up, I made that ability a little better.

Am I the only the that has that pet peeve? If not, have you houseruled something that can make the Oracle look like the oracle of legend (telling the future, etc.) ?.

[Snowbluff]

Heavens Oracles can tell the future with Augary.

[ArqArturo]

Heavens Oracles can tell the future with Augary.

Point taken. And yes, I'm aware this is a rather silly reason to make a thread on.

[Snowbluff]

Favored Soul would work. For a different name, we can use Prophet, which are just "inspired"

[Ilorin Lorati]

I've never thought of an oracle as someone that could by definition see the future, more someone that was able to "see behind the veil", be it a figurative veil of secrets, a "veil" of space and/or time that kept the average person from being able to see something, or a metaphysical planar veil. An oracle that can predict the future is, of course, the most common kind of oracle - but when you consider that in antiquity the oracles couldn't wreathe themselves in fire or summon winds that little tidbit makes sense.

So really, an oracle is someone that something, be it a god or another divine power, chose to spread their secrets and be their mouth upon the prime material. This is opposed to a cleric, who goes through years of training and schooling to hone their powers, and asks the god for power on a daily basis.

In antiquity, that was a woman blessed by the gods so that she could see the future.

In Batman, that's a hacker who lost the ability to use her legs and became an even stronger partner in meteing out JUSTICE.

In Pathfinder, that's, well... this class (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle).

[AuraTwilight]

Strictly speaking, an Oracle is someone who receives messages, wisdom, and power from the gods in Greek mythology.

So there y'go.

[Fax Celestis]

oracle (plural oracles) (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oracle)


A shrine dedicated to some prophetic deity.
A person such as a priest through whom the deity is supposed to respond with prophecy or advice.
A prophetic response, often enigmatic or allegorical, so given.
A person considered to be a source of wisdom.
a literary oracle
A wise sentence or decision of great authority.
One who communicates a divine command; an angel; a prophet.
(computing theory) A theoretical entity capable of answering some collection of questions.
(Jewish antiquity) The sanctuary, or most holy place in the temple; also, the temple itself.


So the issue stems from the fact that you're using #2 when you should be using #4 or #6.

[(Un)Inspired]

I think this is par for the course for d20 classes. So the Oracle can't see the future. So What? The Fighter is garbage at fighting. The class names don't actually reflect on the characters in-game professions.

[Bhaakon]

I think the difference they were going for is that a cleric is petitioning a god to grant boons or miracle on his/her behalf, while the oracle is a conduit for divine power whether they want to be or not--which is why they bear curses and aren't required to worship deity. In terms of the ancient definitions, that's a heck of a stretch to make. Oracles were seen as having a more direct connection to the gods, but (at least in the Hellenic world) they were usually priests/priestesses in some kind of church hierarchy who were trained to take over the role.

That being said, I can't really think of a pithy title that would better communicate the idea. One of the benefits of "oracle" as a name is that it has religious connotations without having the modern baggage of "prophet" or "saint."

[Craft (Cheese)]

You aren't alone in this: Lots and lots of people complained about the Oracle's class name when it first came out. Don't hear about it so much anymore; Anyone who cared has either gotten over it, or quit PF altogether.

[Psyren]

Oracles are just folks who get messages from the gods. These can often, but definitely not always, relate to future events.

[ArqArturo]

Oracles are just folks who get messages from the gods. These can often, but definitely not always, relate to future events.

Fireball is a pretty straightforward message :smallbiggrin:.

[Spore]

This is why the german term is great. They've been called "Mystiker" which you guessed it means mystic.

Also the only fluff description that makes sense for me is that the oracle has taken (or has been given) some divine spark for himself and has been struck with a terrible curse for that glimpse of power. If we go back to Greek mythology, this one is more Prometheus than Cassandra.

[Azurefenrir]

To be fair, Druids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid) are also not supposed to be nature-y people, either.

Quite a number of the mysteries do involve future-telling to some extent, though (not just heaven, but also lore, nature, time, etc.) so I assumed that might be the reason.