This character class has been culled from a back issue of Dragon(tm) Magazine and details a character classes for use in a 1st Edition AD&D game.

The Oracle

Ever since homo sapiens learned how to use his brain, there has always been a part of man's mind that desires to know the events of the future, not only so that he can prepare for them, but also simply” so that his curiosity might be satisfied. To fill this need, there have long been people claiming to be able to divine those events.

But there is also a desire to know events of the present as well, and events of the unknown past. And, there have also arisen those people who say they can divine these things. As long as man is curious about the things he does not know, there will be other men who will believe that they are able to satisfy this curiosity through mystical means. These men and women are the oracles, a legendary type of person presented here as a new non-player character class for ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® adventuring.

Ancient Greeks trusted the famous oracle at Delphi. The traditional procedure by which divinations were obtained involved virgins (ceremonially named “Pythia,” after a serpent slain by Apollo) who were seated on a tripod over a rift, from which rose thick vapors and, so the Greeks believed, the wisdom of Apollo. The ancients had so much faith that they believed whatever the oracle of Delphi prophesied would invariably come true.

Eastern religions have long put great stock in oracular hermits living away from the people, who they believed had great and god-given wisdom. Such an oracle, they felt, could tell them the truth about their fates, and the fates of their gods. In more modern times, gypsy fortune tellers have gained a reputation for mystical ability, although society is more skeptical of such persons than earlier civilizations had been. Still today, there are mediums and fortune tellers making money from people who want to believe that oracular ability can truly exist, and who need their curiosity satisfied in one way or another. In an AD&DTM campaign (which, of course, strays a long way from “reality”), divination plays a large part in the lives of adventurers. A great number of simple spells, including all the Detect spells, are divinations. Also, there are a number of non-player character classes that can make predictions for paying clients: the sage, the alchemist, and the astrologer. It seems that adventurers, even more so than people in this real, mundane world of ours, need to know of the future, or of the nature of things unclear to themselves. Often, having this knowledge means the difference between life and death. The sage, as outlined on pages 31-33 of the Dungeon Masters Guide, is somewhat inadequate for making divinations. Unless the sage's major field is the occult and things oracular in the first place, he will cost the party seeking his aid a great deal and will be little help.

Similarly, the alchemist (as presented by Roger E. Moore in issue #45 of DRAGON magazine) is somewhat lacking in oracular ability, preferring to spend his time as the sage does, buried in books and alchemical experimentation. Thus, he will not be able to help a party greatly when they come to him for aid.

Most useful is Roger Moore's astrologer class, also presented in DRAGON #45. The main function of the astrologer is to make divinations; however, the astrologer himself is limited in his abilities. That is, he has only one method of divination available to him, which somewhat reduces the reliability of his predictions. Also, the astrologer cannot use spells, and so cannot perform even the simplest Detect for adventurers.

The Oracle NPC class

The following text describes the Oracle as a new non-player character class, one which gives its members the ability to castspells and use certain innate abilities in order to make divinations and predictions. An Oracle NPC in an adventuring party would leave the other spell-casters free to carry more attack and defense spells, enhancing the characters' chance of survival if the adventure ahead is to be full of conflicts and combat. The principal attributes of the oracle are intelligence and wisdom, both of which must be 14 or higher. A high constitution and charisma are also useful, but these attributes may each be as low as 6. A high wisdom score allows the oracle to use extra spells, as follows:

The experience-level structure among oracles is similar in some ways to that of druids and monks, in that the numbers of characters at certain levels is restricted. While there may be any number of oracles between the first and 11th levels, there are only one each of the higher-level oracles.

A character wishing to rise from 11th level to 12th (Soothsayer to Seer), after earning sufficient experience points, must seek out the single Seer and challenge him or her to a game of riddles. Dungeon Masters are referred to Patricia McKillip's Hed trilogy orJ.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit to see how this might be done. The winner of this game becomes (or continues to be) t he Seer, entitled to the possessions and abilities that go with the title. After a month of self-training, a character newly claiming the title of Seer will be able to use new spells and certain innate abilities. As with other combats of this type, the loser returns to the minimum number of experience points allowable for the 11th level (630,001 xp), and must begin to climb again. A riddle-game may not be attempted until a Soothsayer has sufficient experience points to rise a level. It should be noted that the Seer is in a precarious position, since there are usually many who come to challenge him.

At 13th level and higher, there is no competition. A position in the higher levels becomes open only when its occupant dies. Then the character of the level immediately below the open position will move up into it, provided that he has enough experience points to fulfill that requirement. Every lower-ranking oracle then moves up accordingly (subject to the experience-point requirement), and if necessary a new Seer is chosen by a riddle-tournament held amongst any characters with enough experience points to claim the position. For example, if the Low Prophet were to die, the Seer (if he had enough experience) would move up to that position, and a new Seer would be chosen from amongst the Soothsayers.

For each position above 11th level, there exists a vast and unique library, containing all of the information needed by an oracle of that level. Thus, a new Seer would find in his newly acquired library volumes containing the new spells he may use, along with equipment and instructions for his new innate abilities. The oracles possessing these libraries do not own them, but leave them behind for the next oracle when they rise in level.

Characters of 11th level and below, though, must seek training in the same way that characters of any other class must. They cannot impose upon oracles of 12th level or higher to give them this training, because oracles of that much stature are loath to waste time on such matters.

Oracles of lower than 12th level may carry or own whatever they wish (subject, of course, to a few class restrictions), and may travel about freely and hold any faith. Only the wisest and most intelligent of oracles ever make it to the higher levels, and although such advancement is the general goal of every oracle, most do not pursue it exclusively.

Higher-level oracles will never be kept in the service of a single person or a particular group of characters, but will live in some secluded part of the world where they will not often be disturbed. There, they study and expand their experience as much as they can. The lairs of these oracles are more or less permanent structures or enclosures, and they come with the position; when an oracle of high level rises, he often changes lairs as well. Thus, people tend to identify more with the positions and locations of oracles than with their individual names or identities.

In many ways, oracles are similar to magic-users. They fight and save on the M-U tables, they are subject to the same weapon and armor restrictions as magic-users, and they are able to use any device or magic item that a magic-user can employ. The only major difference between the classes (apart from certain innate special abilities) is in the way that spells are recovered; this will be described below.

It is possible for an oracle to be of any alignment, although those of the highest levels tend to be true neutral. In any case, that is a reflection on their tem perament rather than their religious preference. An oracle, as he progresses in power and ability, will likely turn away from any extreme alignment and become more and more neutral in his outlook.

Similarly, an oracle may technically worship any god he wishes, but will tend to abandon his faith as he rises in level. Divinations need not, as the name would seem to suggest, come from a god, but rather from the earth and the spheres. Gods must live by the laws of the universe in an AD&D game, just as men and beasts do, and thus oracles must go “beyond the gods” to achieve their predictions. They read things from the structure of the universe, which exists in spite of the gods rather than because of them, and there they find their answers. Thus, an oracle with an extremely fervent faith will not be liable to advance to the highest levels of his class, because his interpretation of the omens of the universe will be slanted by adherence to his faith. At the 5th level of experience, an oracle begins to attract followers. At this point, he will gather one or two students of zero or first level. Upon attainment of each level higherthan 5th, the maximum number of students is doubled; at 11th level, a Soothsayer may have as many as 128 students and followers of zero or first level, or correspondingly fewer of higher levels (up to 4th). When a Soothsayer rises to Seer, however, he must abandon his followers and they likewise must abandon him. High-level oracles, as mentioned earlier, lead solitary lives and seek seclusion rather than the adoration of followers or students.

Innate powers

At each level of experience, oracles gain certain innate powers of divination. The accuracy and usefulness of these increase with the oracle's level.

The following chart gives the innate oracular abilities, the level at which each is first gained, and the chance of successful divination using that ability at that level and all higher levels of experience. Abilities where the chance for success may be improved by an intelligence bonus are marked by an asterisk.

Explanations of innate abilities

Rhabdomancy: This is the art of dowsing for water or oil, or for metals of various types. Any forked wooden stick may be used, although hazeiwood works best (+1% to chance of success per level of oracle). The stick is held by the prongs with the palms of the hands facing upward and horizontal to the ground while the ends of the prongs project outward. The pointing end of the stick should be slightly elevated above horizontal. When water, or oil or metal, are directly beneath the rod, the end will force itself downward to indicate the presence of the substance. Oil or water will belocated by a simple, bare wooden rod, but metals can be found by dowsing only if a bit of the metal sought is attached to the pointing end of the stick. Any metal of a non-magical nature can be dowsed for; however, metal which is used for currency or is valuable because of its rarity is located at a penalty of 10% to the chance for success. Iron, other common metals and common alloys (bronze, brass, etc.) can be found at no penalty.
Arithomancy: This, in essence, is numerology. An oracle will assign numbers to the letters in the name of a person, place or thing and make a divination about the nature of the thing so named and “numbered.” This prediction will reveal, to some extent, whether the person, place orthing is good or evil, and whether it involves good fortune or bad. This ability incorporates the skills of onomancy, which considers the letters in a name themselves rather than the numbers they may represent.
Cleromancy: This is divination by lots. An oracle practicing this ability would cast down a number of small dice or tiny, marked bones, and make a prediction from the numbers that turn up. A successful divination will tell the oracle whether the characters asking for the divination (or himself, of course) will have good or bad fortune in the next week.
Coscinomancy: This is a method that an oracle may use to determine the guilt or responsibility of a known character in causing a known event. The oracle will balance a small brass sieve on two fingers, or on the points of a pair of shears (+5% to chance of success for any level of oracle), and then describe the event (a crime, usually). After that, the names of characters suspected of causing the event or committing the crime are spoken before the balancing sieve. Lf the divination is successful, and the name of the guilty character is spoken, the sieve will begin to wobble at that time, indicating guilt.
Austromancy: This means of divination allows the oracle to know whether the fortune of a character will be good or bad during the next week by studying the winds and the movements of clouds foraday.
Capnomancy: This method of divination achieves the same effect as austromancy, but the determination is through a day's studyof the movements of smoke (in still air). During this time,a smoky fire must be maintained for the oracle. If austromancy and captomancy are combined at the same time and in the same effort, the effects and length of time required remain the same, but the chance of successful divination triples.
Belomancy:This, like cleromancy, is a form of divination by lots; however, it uses arrows or notched sticks instead of dice. Answers to a question posed by a character are written on the arrows, and these, along with a single blank arrow, are placed in a bag. If the divination is successful, and the correct answer is among those written on arrows, the oracle will draw out of the bag the arrow with the correct answer. If the divination is not successful, though, the blank arrow will be drawn. Any arrow drawn from the bag after the first one will be blank, regardless of the number of blank arrows first placed in the bag. No question may be asked more than once; arrows for repeated questions will always be blank.
Hepatoscopy: This method of divination uses the examination of the livers of lower animals to determine the fortune of characters. The chance of success is adjusted according to the size and physiological complexity of the animals used - but in no case may any creature of higher than animal intelligence be used. Birds and fish may be used at -25% to the chance of success, small animals and monsters at -15%, man-sized animals and monsters (as well as sheep and goats) with no adjustment, and large animals and monsters at +15% Animals or monsters who are examined must be killed by the oracle just before attempting the divination; creatures already dead may be used, but at -70% to the chance of success.
Meteoromancy: The study of meteors by an oracle may foretell the favor of a god, the fortune of a character, or the occurrence of an important event. This method of divination allows the oracle to know not only which of these omens the sighted meteors represent, but (with a small degree of accuracy) what the event, fortune, or disposition is. In any case, the oracle must spend a week studying the skies before he may make the divination.
Ornithomancy: This method of divination allows the oracle to determine whether a character's fortune in the coming week will be good or bad. The oracle must spend a day studying the movements of birds before attempting a prediction.
Hydromancy: Except that the oracle must spend a day studying the movements and currents in running water or the tides, this method of divination is the same as ornithomancy.
Hieromancy: This is a divination of fortune, or of the favor of a god, through the study of holy objects. If the oracle making the divination is of the faith to which the object studied is holy, there is an additional 10% to the chance of success.
Ophiomancy: This is divination through the study of serpents - that is, snakes - of any type (lizards, dragons, and other reptiles are excluded). After a day of study, the oracle may make a prediction about the fortune of a character for the coming week.
Pyromancy: This is divination through fire. An oracle will be able to make a prediction about the fortune of a character for the next week after studying the flames of a fire for an hour. The chance of success is adjusted according to the size and nature of the fire. A small flame, such as a candle, allows the oracle to divine at -10%, while a normal fire is unadjusted, and a large fire (such as a pyre or a burning building) gives +25%. If dung is cast into the flames, there is a -5% to the chance of success, but if incense is burned, there is a +10% chance.
Botanomancy: This is a form of divination through the study of plants. After a day of studying living plants, the oracle may make a prediction about the fortune of a character during the next week. If botanomancy is combined with a Speak with Plants spell, the chance of successful divination is increased by 50%. Another method of botanomancy, similar to belomancy, involves the writing of answers to a question on the leaves of a plant. The oracle then cuts these leaves free and exposes them to the wind. If the divination is successful, and the correct answer is among those submitted, the wind will blow away all leaf-answers but the correct one. If the divination is unsuccessful, no answers will be left behind by the wind, and those blown away will be irretrievable. Note that in this second method of botanomancy, the Speak with Plants spell will not change the chance of success.
Astromancy and Horoscopy: These two methods of divination are essentially the same, the former being a study of the stars and the latter a study of star charts. They allow an oracle to determine the fortune of a character for the next week, and with fair accuracy the type of events that will befall him. In both cases, a full night of study by the oracle is required in order for the divination to have a chance of being successful.
Oneirocritica: This is a divination made through the interpretation of dreams and visions. After a night of successful dreaming, an oracle may predict an event that will happen in the next two days, with fair accuracy. The chance for success roll indicates both that a dream or vision was had by the oracle, and that it was interpreted correctly. If a character relates a dream or vision to an oracle with oneirocritical ability, there is a basic chance of 10% plus 5% per experience level of the oracle that it will be interpreted correctly. Events of the past and present may also be divined this way; the chance of an event dreamed being in the future is 85%, the chance of it being in the past is 10%, and in the present, 5%.
Lithomancy: This is a method of determining the fortune of a character, or the nature (good or evil) or fortune of a different person or place. The oracle will cast down a number of pebbles and then study the patterns formed by them. Similar to lithomancy is geomancy, in which dots are drawn randomly on a scrap of paper and the patterns then read by the oracle. Geomancy also allows the oracle to divine things by reading the patterns in cracks in the ground.
Dactytomancy: This method of divination involves the use of a device similar to a Ouija board. The character requiring knowledge asks the oracle a question, and the answer is spelled out by a finger-ring suspended over a ring of alphabetic letters. The answer will likely be cryptic, but occasionally, as in the case of a name or a simple affirmation, the answer will be concise and clear. A lack of success in the divination is indicated by a lack of movement by the ring. A question may be asked only once; if the divination fails for that question no answer may ever be determined, even if the question is reworded.
Haruspicy: This method of divination is almost the same as hepatoscopy, except that it is more precise, telling in fair detail what the major events of the next two days will be (death, for example, or a complete loss of money), if any major events will occur, and may only be performed with the entrails of non-intelligent animals and monsters of 6 or more hit dice. The entrails of the victim are cut out and cast randomly on the ground, and the twistings and patterns formed by them are studied by the oracle. Animals not killed by the oracle himself may be used, but at a penalty of -50% to the chance of success.
Sciomancy:Similar to the Speak with Dead spell, this method of divination allows the oracle to determine the truth about an event in the past or present, by speaking with the spirit (the body need not be present) of a deceased character. Only one event may be discussed, although as many questions may be asked of the spirit as are necessary to clarify the answer.
Catoptromancy: This is divination by means of reflections and mirrors. Events of the past (60% of the time), present (15%) or future (25%) may be divined precisely by the oracle after an hour of mirror-gazing. Random events are reflected in the mirror for the oracle to see. Silver mirrors allow a +10% bonus to the chance of success when depicting events involving death.
Licanomancy: This is the ability of divination through the study of reflections in a vessel of still water. A drop of oil may be added and the resulting patterns studied; this is called scyphomancy. Or, the motions and figures in a pot of molten lead may be studied also; this is called molybdomancy. The oracle, after an hour of study, is able to make an accurate divination of an event occurring in the past, present, or future, which he is able to specify 20% of the time. The use of either holy or unholy water will give +10% to the chance of success. Events seen in holy water tend to be pleasant, and those seen in unholy water tend to be dire.
Gastromancy: This ability is divination through the observation of figures in sealed glass jars. Two sets of these jars exist; one is in the possession of the single oracle, and one in the possession of the Great Oracle. The five jars of each set are cobalt blue in color and vary in height from two inches to two feet. A specific event of the past, present, or future may be requested bytheoracle, and 50% of the time, this will be the one depicted. Otherwise, the event shown will be random. If the divination is unsuccessful, the jars will remain empty, but if a successful divination is made, a series of cryptic figures and depictions will appear in the jars. The jars themselves are not magical.
Crystallomancy: By this method, the Great Oracle is able to divine, with only a 5% chance of failure, any event occurring in the past, present, or future. This event may be chosen by the oracle 80% of the time; otherwise it will be random. The oracle consults a crystal globe (which is non-magical), and sees in it a series of figures, or depictions of people and events, which he may then interpret to make a divination.

General guidelines on divination

Innate abilities are available to an oracle whenever the proper equipment and/ or materials are present. The die roll made for each divination indicates only whether or not the oracle was able to get a clear impression, and does not guarantee the absolute accuracy of that impression: If a divination is found to be unsuccessful, then the oracle was unable to receive any impression about the question posed him; however, he will require payment in return for even a failed attempt.

The accuracy of a prediction depends more upon the experience level of the oracle involved than on the method used to make it. Thus, predictions made by higher-level oracles will tend to be more precise than those made by low-level oracles, even in the case of a simple reading of a fortune. Higher-level oracles will be relatively more specific in their divinations when the attempts succeed.

It should be noted, though, that divinations made by any oracle to be a little difficult to understand, or at least should be able to be interpreted in several ways, so that player characters are not able to take advantage of the oracle to know with great precision and accuracy what will happen in acampaign. An element of mystery should be maintained, and so oracles ought to respond in verse or in generalities rather than in straight forward terms. Players should have to interpret the words of the oracle in order to benefit from them.

On the other hand, predictions of the future that are correct (such as the death of a character, if such is indicated), should always come true. Even if a character takes precautions against a prediction, it should still occur. Once an oracle makes a prediction that the DM and the dice say is true, it happens. Similarly, events of the present and past must have taken place, if they were described correctly by an oracle.

In cases where the oracle receives visions and impressions of things that he did not request (especially among the higher-level abilities), the origin of those impressions will be unknown to the oracle. That is, he may request to know about the death of a certain character in the future, but if he receives impressions of an earthquake instead, he will not know whether the earthquake occurred in the past, is now occurring, or will occur in the future, or where it will take place. Such events should be created randomly by the DM, and may in fact be events that have already occurred to the character requesting knowledge from the oracle. In any case, they should not be events of any great importance to the campaign, lest they disturb the balance of the game.

Furthermore, if the revealing of certain information would tend to badly unbalance the game and lessen the enjoyment of the players, the DM should not let the information out, despite what the dice may tell him. The price that an oracle will ask for a divination is high, and costs increase as the level of ability increases. Usually, the price asked will beloogp times the level of the ability squared, plus or minus a little according to the wishes of the DM. Thus, a simple dowsing for water would cost 100 gold pieces (100 x (12) = 100), while a gastromantic prediction might cost around 22,500 gold pieces (100 x (152) 22,500).

Spell casting by oracles

Oracles have the ability to cast both divination magics and some necromantic spells. These they acquire through meditation, in the same way that clerics and druids recovertheirspells, although all of their spells do exist in a written form. The prices that an oracle will charge forspell casting will be the same as those charged by any other class of spell-caster forthe same activity. For example, the DMG outlines on page 103 and 104 some suggested prices for clerical spells; oracular spell prices will be in this range.

Spells unique to the oracle class are described after the spell list which follows, and spells taken from the Players are referenced according to the level and class which apply.

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