Divine Oracle (3.5e Prestige Class)

The Divine Oracle

Some people call them mad, and certainly some divine oracles are driven insane by the visions they see. Some people doubt their words; indeed, some divine oracles are destined never to be believed. Wherever the deities are known to speak to mortals, some mortals hear their voices with a unique clarity and gain insight into the past, the present, and the future by virtue of their unusual status. Divine oracles are such mortals, blessed—or cursed—by visions from their deities.

All divine oracles are spellcasters, and most were clerics or druids before adopting the divine oracle prestige class. Whatever their other classes, all divine oracles share a particular devotion to the Divination school of magic, having mastered all available means to catch glimpses of the future.

NPC divine oracles often live in out-of-the-way places, though usually close enough to civilization that people with pressing questions about the future can seek them out to have their questions answered. They frequently inhabit sacred shrines or ancient temples and rarely take an active part in world affairs.

Adaptation: The divine oracle is designed to work well with both arcane and divine spellcasters; the idea behind the class is that you’re getting divine guidance that manifests itself in a number of ways. But it doesn’t have to be that way. By adjusting the requirements, you could push the class in an arcane or divine direction. It’s also easy to add a requirement that limits it to worshipers of a deity of time, fate, or divination.

Hit Die: d6.

Requirements

To qualify to become a divine oracle, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

• Skill: Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks.
• Feat: Skill Focus (Knowledge [religion]).
• Spells: Able to cast at least 2 divination spells.

Class Skills

The divine oracle's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table : The Divine Oracle

	Base Attack	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Spells per Day
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Oracle domain, Scry bonus	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Prescient sense	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd	+1	+1	+3	+3	Divination enhancement, Trap sense +1	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th	+2	+1	+4	+4	Uncanny dodge (Dex bonus to AC)	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
5th	+2	+1	+4	+4	Blessed sight	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
6th	+3	+2	+5	+5	Trap sense +2	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th	+3	+2	+5	+5	Swift Prediction	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th	+4	+2	+6	+6	Improved uncanny dodge (can’t be flanked)	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
9th	+4	+3	+6	+6	Trap sense +3	+1 level of existing spellcasting class
10th	+5	+3	+7	+7	Immune to surprise	+1 level of existing spellcasting class

Class Features

All of the following are Class Features of the divine oracle prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Divine oracles gain no additional proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new divine oracle level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that she adds the level of divine oracle to the level of whatever other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and spells known accordingly.

If a character had more than one spellcasting class before she became a divine oracle, the player must decide which class to assign each level of divine oracle for the purpose of determining divine spells per day and spells known.

Oracle Domain (Su): Upon adopting the divine oracle class, the character gains access to the Oracle domain. The character gains the granted power associated with the oracle domain, and access to the spells of that domain as domain spells. If the divine oracle already has the Oracle domain, she instead gains access to the Fate, Knowledge, Mysticism, or Truth domain.

Scry Bonus (Su): A divine oracle adds a +1 sacred bonus to the save DC of all her divination (scrying) spells.

Prescient Sense (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, if a divine oracle makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally inflicts half damage on a successful save (such as a red dragon's fiery breath or a fireball spell), she instead takes no damage, since her prescience allowed her to get out of the way faster. This form of evasion works no matter what armor the divine oracle wears, unlike the evasion ability used by monks and rogues.

Divination Enhancement (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, a divine oracle may roll twice and take the better result when using divination spells such as augury or divination.

Trap Sense (Ex): At 3rd level, the divine oracle gains an intuitive sense that alerts her to danger from traps, giving her a +1 bonus on Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps. These bonuses rise by an additional +1 every three levels above 3rd (to +2 at 6th level, and +3 at 9th).

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 4th level, a divine oracle gains the ability to react to danger before her senses would normally allow her to do so. The divine oracle retains her Dexterity modifier to AC (if any) regardless of being caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. (She still loses her Dexterity modifier to AC if immobilized.)

Blessed Sight (Su): At 5th level and above, a divine oracle may cast True Seeing once a day as a spell-like ability with a target of self and a caster level equal to twice her divine oracle class levels.

Swift Prediction (Ex): At 7th level and above, once a day, a divine oracle may immediately predict the movements of an opponent and gain all the benefits of the True Strike spell as a swift action. Additionally, for the duration of the round, the divine oracle gains all the benefits of the Improved Trip feat. If she already has the Improved Trip feat, the bonus stacks.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 8th level and higher, the divine oracle can no longer be flanked, since she can react to opponents on opposite sides of her as easily as she can react to a single attacker. This defense denies rogues the ability to use flank attacks to sneak attack the divine oracle. The exception to this defense is when an attacker has at least 4 more rogue levels than the target has divine oracle levels. If a character already has levels of a class that could gain uncanny dodge, the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum level a rogue must be to flank the character.

Immune to Surprise (Ex): At 10th level, the divine oracle’s sensitivity to danger is so great that she is never surprised. She can always take a standard action during a surprise round, unless she is physically restrained from doing so. If there is no surprise round then this ability doesn’t help.

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