Okay I am looking for an opinion. I am running a game where I want to use an oracle. I was considering using the stereotypical Oracle of Delphi, but I want it to be something different. Most likely it will inhabit a cave on an island. It will deliver a quatrain riddle. Some options I've considered were:
A medusa with a veil over her face and snake tail. Perhaps surrounded by statues perhaps in a garden
A talking cat, dog, rat or other animal.
A mirror that reveals something about the player such as a horrific fate.
A dragon....gigantic or tiny
A blind man on the street
A talking skull
A wall that magically writes words in blood or other liquids depend on the nature of fortune.
Which of these sounds the most interesting or entertaining. Any other ideas are welcome. Thanks for any feedback.
I tried counting to one backwards, but I didn't know where to start.
A variant on the wall that writes in blood. Have the oracle be a "book" that answers questions in riddle form. Those answers appear in the book, written in blood from an inkwell next to the book. The blood must be placed in the inkwell by the asker -- as in, it must be the asker's blood.
Here are the PHB essentia, in my opinion:
Three Basic Rules (p 11)
Power Types and Usage (p 54)
Skills (p178-179)
Feats (p 192)
Rest and Recovery (p 263)
All of Chapter 9 [Combat] (p 264-295)
A player needs to read the sections for building his or her character -- race, class, powers, feats, equipment, etc. But those are PC-specific. The above list is for everyone, regardless of the race or class or build or concept they are playing.
Just have a voice speak in the PCs head. If you want to get into some crazy RP, have it only talk in one PCs head and the rest of the PCs hear nothing but the Oracle only responds to questions asked out loud .....
How about a tiny pixie that begins every sentence with, "Hey! Listen!" ?
I think it'd be neat to have a skull sitting on a pedestal with fire nearby. The skull doesn't move, but an extremely deep and raspy voice seems to eminante from it, filling the chamber.
Okay I am looking for an opinion. I am running a game where I want to use an oracle. I was considering using the stereotypical Oracle of Delphi, but I want it to be something different. Most likely it will inhabit a cave on an island. It will deliver a quatrain riddle. Some options I've considered were:
A medusa with a veil over her face and snake tail. Perhaps surrounded by statues perhaps in a garden
A talking cat, dog, rat or other animal.
A mirror that reveals something about the player such as a horrific fate.
A dragon....gigantic or tiny
A blind man on the street
A talking skull
A wall that magically writes words in blood or other liquids depend on the nature of fortune.
Which of these sounds the most interesting or entertaining. Any other ideas are welcome. Thanks for any feedback.
The medusa is not bad, it can become an NPC of some sort if you want. I used a high level hag for this same role. Worked great. The PC warlock ended up with a pact! hehe.
Dragons are always good for giving cryptic information. You could go with a 'serpent' as well.
Birds work good for the talking animal concept. The raven or owl of course being the typical example.
Old blind man/woman or a 'blessed child' perhaps, all pretty good classics.
You could also go with some kind of really ancient elf or dwarf, or a deva perhaps.
Honestly ALL of these sound like quite usable options. I'd pick one and develop a bit of lore around it, maybe a couple paragraphs. Maybe tie it into some god or something and provide a reason the oracle exists and maybe some quirks and general characteristics (what types of questions it is known to answer, etc). Tie it to a god maybe.
Great guys...thanks for the feedback...I haven't come to a decision yet...we played the playtest this week anyway...so the oracle might be used next week...
Right now I like the book of blood twist...perhaps have the PC sign his name in the book with his own blood as kind of a guest book...use the tiny dragon fake out or the pixie as the creature requiring them to sign the book.
I like the telepathy, but the problem is that only one PC will be in the room...perhaps I could say the voice comes from everywhere but nowhere.
In the world I'm running right now for this, the gods are long forgotten but might be coming back...so having it associated with a forgotten god would be good for my campaign, perhaps Baccob or Ioun...whichever...I would have the god's holy symbols thoughout.
As to the actual form of the oracle I don't know...I think the comedy of the tiny dragon or pixie would do for enough comedy. So, the oracle needs to be serious, perhaps the medusa or something more associated with Baccob or Ioun...I'll do some research on both to see I can find something on common followers.
Perhaps even something from the far realm that worships a Great Old One.
Thanks, let me know what you guys think and keep the suggestions coming if you will.
I tried counting to one backwards, but I didn't know where to start.
The oracle could look like the PC as he appears 30 - 40 years from now. Make the PC wonder "what the crap is going on" and you could provide some kick-butt story to surround the oracle's existence.
Another fun throught, if the oracle is a powerful moster like a Dragon is that the oracle will only answer the questions of an opponent that has defeated it (reduced the monster to bloody Hit Points) or the oracle will answer your question but try to keep the PC from leaving and they have to fight there way out. This also makes vists to the oracle risky and keep the PC from latter being just going back to the oracle when ever they have a question about the furture.
