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The Oracle

This document provides suggestions and insights into how to translate the ideas of the Oracle class from the source material into Pathfinder Fate Accelerated.

"Although the gods work through many agents, perhaps none is more mysterious than the oracle. These divine vessels are granted power without their choice, selected by providence to wield powers that even they do not fully understand.

Unlike a cleric, who draws her magic through devotion to a deity, oracles garner strength and power from many sources, namely those patron deities who support their ideals. Instead of worshiping a single source, oracles tend to venerate all of the gods that share their beliefs. While some see the powers of the oracle as a gift, others view them as a curse, changing the life of the chosen in unforeseen ways.

Oracles do not usually associate with any one church or temple, instead preferring to strike out on their own, or with a small group of like-minded individuals. Oracles typically use their spells and revelations to further their understanding of their mystery, be it through fighting mighty battles or tending to the poor and sick."

Because Pathfinder Fate Accelerated doesn't use spell lists and the magic guidelines allow free casting by default, the differences between a cleric and a oracle boils down to the wording of Aspects and Troubles to model a Mystery and a Curse in order to capture the desired "Oracle" feel, and Stunts to model any special abilities.

Therefore, it is recommended that players interested in making an oracle type character refer to the Cleric class translation document and choose their Aspects, Trouble, and Stunts appropriately to suit their concept.

In the case of an oracle character, any Stunt or ability that refers to "faith" would simply be interpreted through the lens of their mystery and curse instead of the religion of a patron deity.

Starting Archetype Sets

Fervent

Divine +4

Devout

Combative +1, Divine +3

Pious

Combative +2, Divine +2

Diverging From Source Material

From a certain perspective, the Oracle class is an example of mechanics before concept. Sorcerers allowed players to make a full Arcane spellcaster using the "spontaneous" spell casting model, but no such class existed for Divine casters.

Thus, the Oracle was made primarily to fill that mechanical gap and the class amounts to a copy and paste of Sorcerers with some chrome changes. Concept was entirely secondary.

The one distinct quirk of the class is the idea of a "Curse" afflicting each Oracle, but functionally they amount to a bundle of useful abilities paired with a detriment.

From a fiction perspective, overall the class is not well integrated into the setting (though there are a few exceptions).

As Pathfinder Fate Accelerated is far more concerned with concepts than mechanics, the concept of Oracles offers little to distinguish itself from the Cleric concept. However, individual players and GM's can overcome this by finding ways to more seamlessly integrate the Oracle concept into their campaigns.