You ever get the feeling this has all happened before? [3.5 Base Class - The Oracle]

[RaggedAngel]

Class Features The following are all class features of the Oracle.

If I'm going to play this class, I have to tear it apart first. Be warned, I'm going to be harsh. Also, keep in mind that since I'm going to play one of these, every time I want to weaken something I'm asking you to weaken one of my favorite characters. That's a pretty big grain of salt.

Spells: *Beguiler/Warmage/Dread Necromancer style casting.*

To cast an Oracle spell, you must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell's level (Cha 10 for 0th-level spells, Cha 11 for 1st level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an Oracle's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the Oracle's Charisma modifier. Like other spellcasters, an Oracle can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. This base daily allotment is shown on the table above. In addition, you receive bonus spells for a high Intelligence score.

I'm not complaining, but why did you decide on Int instead of Wis for the secondary stat? Oracles from history are almost universally portrayed as wise, not necessarily smart or charismatic. Perception is tied to Wisdom; why does an Oracle's power ignore it?

That said, the list=known casting classes are all excellent and balanced; it's a great place to start.

Domains:The domains available to an Oracle are Balance, Celerity, Community, Darkness, Dream, Healing, Knowledge^*, Luck, Magic, Mentalism, Mind, Mysticism, Oracle, Protection, Renewal, Time, and Trickery.

Okay. You get these notorious spells from these domains: Time Stop, Miracle, Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Polymorph Any Object, Astral Projection. Now, you give the Oracle some of these spells, but this is still a really powerful addition to the class. Not necessarily bad, just strong.

Prescience (Su): To an Oracle, seeing glimpses of the future is as simple as concentrating on what they wish to know. Doing so puts great strain on the Oracle's mind however, and so they are limited in the amount of time they may spend viewing the future. The Oracle may use this ability once per day per class level, and no more than once per round.

That seems like a lot, especially at high levels, but I can't think of a way to alter it without adding another line to the table.

This ability may be used in the following ways:

• At 10th level, the Oracle may choose a single foe and concentrate as a move action. Until the start of her next turn, the next attack made against the Oracle by that foe automatically misses.
• At 15th level, the Oracle may replicate the effects of a true strike spell as a free action.
• At 17th level, the Oracle may concentrate as a standard action. Until the start of her next turn, all attacks made against her miss, and she automatically succeeds on all saving throws.

I feel like it should be a Swift action, not a free action; there should still be some cost for getting a +20 to-hit. The move-action automiss is great against mages using ray spells, but they have plenty of options. As a whole, flavorful and solid.

Eclectic Learning: At 4th level, and again at 7th level and every three levels thereafter, the Oracle adds a new spell to her spells known. The chosen spell is drawn from the Wizard spell list, but may be of any school. The chosen spell is treated as being one level higher than normal for the Oracle (that is, a magic missile spell would be a 2nd level spell for an Oracle, a fireball spell would be a 4th level spell, and so on).

This inches the Oracle up to Tier 2, when coupled with the Domains. You don't really have the selection of a Sorcerer, but when all is said and done I think you have way more power/variety than a Wilder, and they're considered Tier 2.

Unclouded Divination (Ex): Beginning at 4th level, the Oracle may roll twice and take the better result when using divination spells such as augury or divination.

Useful, flavorful, not game-breaking, but nice. This means you shouldn't get much misinformation. This is what a good filler-level should look like.

Oracle's Warding (Ex): Beginning at 5th level, the Oracle adds one-quarter her class level to any AC bonuses granted by spells she casts. If a given spell grants more than one form of bonus AC, this ability applies only to one bonus of the Oracle's choice.

This scales pretty well, I think. At level 20 you can get +35 AC from three 1st level spells, but AC doesn't really matter at 20. At lower levels it just makes you a less squishy.

Sight Beyond Sight (Su): Beginning at 6th level, the Oracle may voluntarily shroud her senses in complete darkness, closing her eyes and willfully ignoring any special senses she may possess. While ignoring her senses in this fashion, the Oracle is effectively blinded until the beginning of her next turn, but she also gains special advantages against foes, based on her level.

• Stuff that is later subsumed.
• At 19th level, the Oracle's blindsense increases to 120 feet, her blindsight increases to 90 feet, and her true seeing increases to 60 feet. In addition, the Oracle gains a special form of touchsight out to the range of her blindsense; the Oracle learns the type and physical ability scores of any creature she detects with this touchsight (the character receives a general description, while the player receives the precise numbers).

This is amazingly strong. You give up nothing to use this, it costs no action, and you can use it as much as you want. In return, you become a Roguebane, you can True See all the damn time, and you get to know the stats of everything near you all the time. I would put an action cost on this, either a move or standard to 'bring yourself into focus'. Either that, or limit the rounds/day.

Oracle's Shield (Su): Beginning at 9th level, the Oracle may twist fate in small ways, preventing unfortunate outcomes. As an immediate action, the Oracle may grant an ally within Close range a +4 insight bonus to AC against one attack. If used to ward an ally against a full attack, this bonus AC applies only to the first attack made.

This is another strong ability, and at this point I'm beginning to suspect that you can't stand an empty level. The problem is, you've filled every level with something strong. It's beginning to add up to a nearly untouchable class, if played intelligently. What's the limit on this? Just an Immediate action? This needs a cap, be it uses/day or /encounter.

The Unwoven Pattern (Su): Nothing is certain until it is made so. At the start of each encounter, until the Oracle's normal turn in the initiative order, she and all allies within 60 feet gain a +20 insight bonus to AC and saving throws. Once the Oracle's turn comes around, this bonus is lost, even if she delays her action or is otherwise prevented from acting.

This is too good. This ability, due to the nature of encounters in D&D, means that the entire group walks around with a +20 to AC, all the time. Sniper in the trees? Nope. Sneak attack in a crowded market? Nope. Arrow from a flying scout five hundred feet away? Nope. This should give everyone Uncanny Dodge and allow your party to always act in the Surprise round, or something like that. As is, this is as strong as a near-capstone.

Oracle's Intervention (Su): Death comes for all, no matter one's preparations. Even the most accurate divinations cannot prevent all unfortunate outcomes, and even the Oracle will fail eventually. Beginning at 18th level, once per day when an ally within line of sight would be killed by any means, the Oracle may use this ability as an immediate action, unraveling and weaving anew the strands of fate that brought about the end of life. All effects of the attack or ability that slew the ally are negated, and all negative effects currently affecting the ally are purged. If the Oracle wishes, she may also cause the chosen ally to disappear from its current location and manifest adjacent to herself.

This is awesome, in both the "cool" and "terrifyingly powerful* way. This is almost a capstone in itself. I feel like there should be some penalty to the person that's saved; they should be dazed or stunned or something for a round or two after you bring them back. An Immediate-action "no" to death plus tactical teleportation shouldn't be so easy; even a Cleric can't stop death this easily, and they'd have to spend a spell/gold to do it.

True Foresight (Su): Compared to your power, all other divinations are as mere parlor tricks. At 20th level, you may experience the future with absolute clarity, able to plan out an entire battle before the first blow has been made. *Rules Snip*

This is perhaps the most powerful, and complicated, capstone I've ever seen. I really, really like it, but I think it may have the problem, especially in PbP (and let's be honest, most games with a level 20+ Oracle will be PbP) in that this can take weeks, even months of play and invalidate them in one moment. I don't like that. I love the fluff of this, but the mechanics make the other players seem like chess pieces on a board, and that isn't fun for anyone but the Oracle. Your Int mod will be at least 5-6, and you can do this every encounter. I love this capstone, I really do, but as written it will make games crawl and frustrate the other players.

So, yeah. I'm sorry that I had to end on that unhappy note, and I'm sorry that most of my comments here are criticisms; I had previously included a bunch of positive remarks, but they made my post almost twice as long as the OP, which is a bit intimidating. This is an excellent class, and I love both the fluff and the crunch. I look forward to playing as one.