Cursed Plot Hooks
May 31st, 2011
Hello everyone and welcome to a new and exciting edition of Grave Plots, the place for plot hooks and adventure ideas – although this week we will be diverting ever so slightly from that trusty model. Allow me to explain: not long ago, while reviewing a list of alternate class features for a then-upcoming product, Ancient Warriors: Sons of Sparta, I was shocked to discover oracles had received the largest word count by far of any other class (which was shocking as this book is primarily focused on martial characters). Now in fairness, the oracle didn’t have as many features as, say, the fighter; in fact, they had only one new feature: a new mystery. While in truth I loved the mystery in question and feel it was the right choice for the book, I was also concerned that the oracle was dominating the section and so decided to take a closer look at the oracle class to see if there was a simpler place to include alternate oracle features that might be just as exciting. A short review of the class revealed that the only other place to really include new or alternate features was the oracle curse, which wouldn’t have been nearly as good as the mystery in this case, and that settled that.
However, while examining the oracle curse feature I found myself somewhat crestfallen that such an interesting idea as the oracle’s curse is so bogged down in what is really fairly simple and dry crunch. Beyond that disappointment, though, I remember feeling that, with the possible exception of the deaf curse (not being able to hear really sucks), these curses didn’t really feel like curses. A major part of that, I think, is that I fell into the trap I think a lot of people do, and was looking purely at the mechanical effects of the curses and feeling disappointed that each curse more or less negated itself or else wasn’t really relevant to how the character would operate in 99% of situations. The more I thought about it, however, the more I came to realize that there’s actually nothing wrong with the oracle’s curse class feature, and that it should really fall upon DMs and enthusiastic players of oracle PCs to make the feature more interesting. This is exactly what we will be looking at today: new ways to use the oracle’s curse to make it a memorable part of the gaming experience for any budding oracles out there. So without wasting any more of your time prattling on about article backstory, let’s take a look at each curse one at a time.
Clouded Vision
This curse is ideal for oracles who spend most of their time delving in underground dungeons, as it restricts distance of vision, but grants dark vision, blindsense, and blindsight, making it ideal for anyone who spends a lot of time in the dark. And while in town the oracle can still see at a functional distance, so really, just so long as there’s someone around to spot danger in the distance, the oracle’s impeded vision isn’t much of a hindrance and probably won’t impact gameplay all that much.
To solve this, I would recommend becoming more selective in what the oracle can see. For instance, your oracle might be wracked with occasional bouts of total blindness. These episodes occur mostly at innocuous times and seemingly at random, but in fact are happening in response to some special circumstance. Perhaps the oracle’s vision fails when he would see someone who might drastically alter his destiny, or whenever he’s in the presence of a fey creature. Whatever the case, such unexplained episodes will likely turn what would otherwise be fairly mundane moments into a rare and exciting experience full of mystery and wonder, making your oracle more interesting and unique without making him more powerful. Alternatively, perhaps the oracle’s vision reacts poorly to certain stimuli, such as sunlight or creatures of particularly strong destiny or outsiders or whatever, causing the oracle pain or inflicting a penalty akin to being dazzled. Finally, you can always associate a negative social stigma with cursed oracles, forcing them to deal with people who don’t understand and therefore hate the oracle.
Deaf
This, I think, is the curse most likely to have a major effect on the oracle’s life; after all, he can’t hear, which should make even general conversation a fun and interesting challenge. My biggest complaint is that with only minimal work a deaf oracle becomes a powerful spell-slinging stealth commando, making it probably the best of the curses in a world without roleplay.
Since such worlds are not in this article’s purview, I do have a couple of ideas for spicing up this curse. Firstly, I would be sure to stress the challenges of being without your hearing; the character’s inability to react to aural stimuli should be at the core of his being and will define how he can interact with the world. Perhaps you should have other players pantomime or write down their communications for a more authentic experience. For those of you who are particularly dedicated or cruel DMs, you could advise the oracle to wear headphones or earplugs to avoid hearing any noise, removing them of course to get accurate descriptions of the perceivable action. For groups who have discovered the wonders of telepathic communication or who just want to go in another direction, you could give the oracle sudden moments of clarity when his hearing manifests, suddenly opening him to a whole world of sound. These manifestations might be similar to the blindness mentioned above, or might be a sign his curse is weakening, or perhaps even the work of a malign force hoping to drive the oracle mad – whatever the case, it should be a grand excuse to discuss the wonderful and diverse range of sounds which are so integral to the way we perceive our world.
Haunted
In my mind, this curse has the most wasted potential of any of the basic oracle curses and the mechanics aren’t even very exciting. Thankfully, this curse also has an easy fix to make it a more interesting and rewarding choice.
Firstly, I think one needs to make those malevolent spirits a little more audible, perhaps occasionally destroying property or hurling furniture about. Perhaps they could even wreck havoc when the PCs are trying to sneak around revealing their position to their enemies. Secondly, I would give these spirits some personality; perhaps they are set off by certain things, growing angry whenever the oracle enters a shrine or returns to his hometown. Maybe the spirits mock the oracle or bicker wickedly among themselves. Perhaps they can be appeased by performing certain deeds or by offering sacrifices. Or they might intercede on the oracle’s behalf, either because through long and arduous effort on his behalf the spirits have befriended him, or because the spirits have something else in mind for the oracle’s final fate.
Lame
This curse seems a little odd to me, mostly because the benefits, while they do a good job of adequately offsetting the curse’s drawback, don’t make much sense to me. Because of a serious injury to your leg, you can carry loads better than other people and are capable of great feats of endurance? I just don’t see it; the others connect a little better, I think (limited vision but the vision you get is supernatural; deaf but you’ve mastered dealing with it; haunted but sometimes you can tap those spirits’ malevolent power for your own ends; etc.), but that’s an issue for another day. Whatever the case, on first glance you might think there isn’t much you can do to make a bum leg more interesting, but I have a couple of suggestions for you anyway.
Sudden flare-ups of pain in the lame leg will make it feel a lot more like a grievous injury and will give your oracle a good opportunity to roleplay his curse in a way he otherwise wouldn’t be able to. If the pain is constant instead, a search for pain relief and short breaks to apply odd-smelling salves could make your curse a permanent feature of your character rather than a background element. Finally, you shouldn’t underestimate the social stigma applied to cripples; perhaps the oracle receives unwanted special treatment in some areas while being ostracized in others.
Wasting
This is another one that feels a little strange to me, as over time the oracle becomes immune to all the conditions which might effectively simulate his condition. Anyway, there isn’t much more for me to say about wasting, so let’s just get to making it more interesting, shall we?
The first thing I would do with a character who had a wasting curse is make him a social outcast. I know that’s come up before, but here I would bring it to the forefront; after all, there is a very well established stigma against those with wasting conditions. Read up on the plight of lepers in the ancient and medieval world for some ideas on just what such characters might have had to deal with. The other thing I might do here is make the oracle feel his condition in some way – body-wracking pain, slow negative regeneration, frequent bouts of fatigue, or something similar. Taking a simple Charisma check penalty seems a poor representation for having your body slowly rotting away.
Tongues
This is an interesting choice for a curse, as speaking in tongues is nearly as often believed to be a blessing as a curse. Selecting this curse seems to be a good way to avoid having to actually take a curse as a class feature and seems to have, by far, the least impact on how your oracle functions. Whatever the case though, it should be easy enough to spice up this in particular little curse.
The first and possibly only thing I might do with tongues is to use the oracle as an occasional messenger for divine providence. Perhaps the oracle could suddenly be taken over by the mysterious forces that cause him to speak in tongues to deliver dire warnings to the PCs or inform them of the consequences of defying those powers. If I was to do something else here I would make the occasional bouts of tongues draw crowds of ignorant peasants to gawk in wonderment at such displays.
Well that’s all for this week’s Grave Plots. Please join me next week for a special Grave Plots, when we delve into dangerous and eldritch lore in pursuit of Lovecraftian horrors and adventure ideas which may test your very sanity.