Faceless Oracle Curse

[deuxhero]

I just had this is a random idea and decided to see where it went


Faceless
Your face is forever masked and even your nearest friends struggle to recognize you

Effect
At the start of each day your physical appearance, including height and weight, changes randomly within the perimeters for your race, sex and ethnicity (your ability scores do not change). This transformation is treated as a disguise (with a +10 bonus from a polymorph effect) and creatures must succeed on an opposed Spot check to recognize the Oracle. If the Oracle deliberately seeks to be recognized the DC falls to 20 (if it was not lower already) and subjects receive bonuses to their spot checks based on their familiarity (per table Familiarity/Viewer’s Perception Check Bonus under disguise) with the Oracle to recognize her.

At 5th level, add Alter Self and Youthful Appearance to your list of spells known

At 10th level, add Polymorph to your list of spells known

At 15th level, add Greater Polymorph to your list of spells known

I think the difficulty in being recognized is both a boon (someone is after you) but very often a penalty in itself. The rest was balanced around the spell levels given by haunted.

[gr8artist]

Eh, I don't think there's much of a downside. Once you're adventuring with a group, they'll learn that your appearance changes, so you basically negate the downside by saying "I'm the Oracle" every morning when you wake up. Cheapo disguise spell lets you maintain a fake identity anyway, also negating the downside

[deuxhero]

Your party might not have a problem (which was intended) but most adventurers can to tend to get famous and reap the benifits of their fame, which is pretty hard with this (or you do something that makes you easy to impersonate). You don't get disguise self and polymorph effects can't take the form of a specific individual (and have low duration)

[JonathonWilder]

Might I suggest that the character's appearance may change at any moment unless the character makes a save? This could add for a bit more trouble and difficultly, especially if the change takes place in front of others already suspicious of the party.

[Ponderthought]

Might I suggest that the character appearance may change at any moment unless the character makes a save? This could had for a bit more trouble and difficultly, especially if the change takes place in front of others already suspicious of the party.

Seconded. That would give the curse it's bite, and create some really interesting roleplaying opportunities to boot.

[JonathonWilder]

The Oracle's form never stays the same, her face and appearance changing as the days go on, as per a d20 roll by the GM every encounter. The Oracle may choose to prevent this change with a fortitude save to keep her current form, and if it fails she loses 1d6 hitpoints. When her form changes she gains a +10 to all disguise checks, yet may also bring a -(5 or 10) to Bluff and Diplomany checks that takes place in front of NPCs as they grow suspicious or distrustful of the party at the DM's discretion.

[NeoSeraphi]

Completely disappointed by the curse that resulted from such an awesome title. Here's a suggestion on how to make it a REAL curse:

Faceless:

The oracle literally has no face. The oracle retains all five of her senses, as well as the ability to speak and cast spells with verbal components, but whenever any other creature looks at her they recoil in disgust and fright. The oracle takes a -10 penalty to all Charisma checks and Charisma skill checks made with other creatures (except Intimidate).

At 5th level, the oracle gains a bonus equal to half her class level to her Intimidate checks.

At 10th level, the oracle adds all spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list with the [fear] descriptor to her spell list. She then chooses a number of spells on her spell list with the [fear] descriptor, up to her Charisma modifier, and adds them to her spells known.

At 15th level, the oracle can make a creature panicked with an Intimidate check made to demoralize, rather than shaken.

[JonathonWilder]

Completely disappointed by the curse that resulted from such an awesome title. Here's a suggestion on how to make it a REAL curse:

It would seem that the OP wanted a curse that would allow shapeshifting. I is no fair to take someone idea and instead of offering a way to improve you change it completely.

It seems poor to do this.
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Also why couldn't the oracle wear a mask or otherwise hide their face to negate the effect? If the curse requires others to 'looks at her they recoil in disgust and fright'... this I feel could reasonablly be overcome by hiding their face.

[Genth]

Just a thought - dunno how easy it would be to implement, but there could also be a tendency to unintentionally mimic the look of others, sort of like how there are people who can't help but mimic a little of other people's accents. Cue angry misunderstandings!

[Aergoth]

Completely disappointed by the curse that resulted from such an awesome title. Here's a suggestion on how to make it a REAL curse:

Faceless:

The oracle literally has no face. The oracle retains all five of her senses, as well as the ability to speak and cast spells with verbal components, but whenever any other creature looks at her they recoil in disgust and fright. The oracle takes a -10 penalty to all Charisma checks and Charisma skill checks made with other creatures (except Intimidate).

At 5th level, the oracle gains a bonus equal to half her class level to her Intimidate checks.

At 10th level, the oracle adds all spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list with the [fear] descriptor to her spell list. She then chooses a number of spells on her spell list with the [fear] descriptor, up to her Charisma modifier, and adds them to her spells known.

At 15th level, the oracle can make a creature panicked with an Intimidate check made to demoralize, rather than shaken.

So, if I made an old, female oracle with this curse, could I torment radio hosts?

[JonathonWilder]

So, if I made an old, female oracle with this curse, could I torment radio hosts?

Tales from the Crypt referance?

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

. If the Oracle deliberately seeks to be recognized the DC falls to 20 (if it was not lower already) and subjects receive bonuses to their spot checks based on their familiarity (per table Familiarity/Viewer’s Perception Check Bonus under disguise) with the Oracle to recognize her.

Having to roll under DCs to succeed, or expect NPCs to roll over your DCs to get a positive result, is generally a bad way to do things. A better solution would be "If the oracle seeks to be recognized by an NPC, she must make a DC 20 Diplomacy check to convince someone of her identity. The DC drops to 15 if the oracle uses an identity known to change faces, and 10 if the NPC is very familiar with the oracle."

That leaves it as a flat value, avoids problems with unreliability of NPC perception values, avoids problems with the GM having to dig up passive perception DCs for random NPCs, and incentivises the oracle to invest in a Charisma-based skill that doesn't interact well with a permanent disguise.

[Aergoth]

Tales from the Crypt referance?

Nope! Night Vale! Go Spiderwolves!

[JonathonWilder]

Nope! Night Vale! Go Spiderwolves!
Ah okay, for some reason your post reminded me of a couple of episodes back from when I watched the series.