Oracle

Oracle

Supernatural Gift

You possess a precious gift coveted not just by mortals but by the gods themselves: the gift of clear communication between the mortal and divine realms. As an oracle, you can perceive the whims of the gods and petition them for glimpses of their vast insight. This gift also comes with a curse, though, which typically takes the form of dire insights. Consult the Oracle Curse table to determine what unwanted revelations you receive.

The gods seek mortal oracles to act as their agents. As a result, most oracles devote themselves to the service of a single god and learn to ignore the voices of all others. Occasionally, two gods agree to share the services of an oracle. Oracles who try to remain independent often find themselves pursued by the agents of evil gods who would bind them to the god’s service, if necessary.

You gain the following traits.

Ears of the Oracle. You can speak, read, and write Celestial, the language of the gods. In addition, a god might deliver a message through you, and you can decide whether to use your own voice or to allow the god’s voice to come through your mouth to deliver the message, translated into any language you speak.

Oracle’s Insight. The gods give you flashes of insight that help you bring your efforts to fruition. When you make an ability check, you can roll a d10 and add the number rolled to the check. You can wait until after you roll the d20 before deciding to add the d10, but you must decide before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Oracle’s Piety. Your oracular abilities improve as your piety score increases. Instead of gaining the piety benefits associated with any god (as described in chapter 2), you gain the following traits when you reach the specified piety score.

Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for any spell that you cast through these traits.

Augur

Piety 3+ Oracle trait

You can cast augury as a ritual with this trait. Once you do so, you can’t cast it in this way again until you finish a long rest.

Seer

Piety 10+ Oracle trait

You can cast divination as a ritual with this trait. Once you do so, you can’t cast it in this way again until you finish a long rest.

Sibyl

Piety 25+ Oracle trait

You can cast commune as a ritual with this trait. Once you do so, you can’t cast it in this way again until you finish a long rest.

You also can’t be surprised, provided you aren’t incapacitated.

Divine Oracle

Piety 50+ Oracle trait

You can increase your Intelligence or Wisdom score by 2, as well as increasing your maximum for the chosen score by 2.

Benefits of Piety

The gods bestow favors on those who prove their devotion. When your piety score crosses certain thresholds—3, 10, 25, and 50—you gain a benefit detailed in the sections describing the gods’ champions throughout this chapter. If your piety score exceeds and then falls below one of those thresholds, you lose the benefit you gained at the higher tier.

If you choose the Oracle supernatural gift, you gain different rewards for your piety score, instead of the ones normally granted by your god. This gift and its benefits are described in chapter 1.

Inspiration and Piety

To some extent, piety is its own reward. Behaving in accordance with your god’s dictates and ideals inspires you and might enable you to succeed where you might otherwise fail. At your DM’s discretion, whenever you increase your piety score, you might also gain inspiration, reflecting the improvement in the harmony between you and your god.

Impiety

Not every hero chooses the life of a divine champion. Leonin, in particular, are known for rejecting the worship of gods. If you don’t devote yourself to a god, you don’t have a piety score and you gain no rewards for piety, but you don’t suffer any negative consequences.

The Iconoclast supernatural gift (described in chapter 1) offers a way for characters to gain benefits similar to rewards for piety without being devoted to a god.

Oracle Curse