Oracle and Shaman Water Sight. Are the different?

[Driver_325yards]

I am building a character and was trying to decide whether to go Shaman or Oracle and notice a slight, but very significant difference in the language used for Water Sight (Oracle vs. Shaman)

Shaman

Quote:

Water Sight (Su): The shaman sees through fog and mist without penalty as long as there is enough light to otherwise allow her to see normally. At 7th level, she can use can use scrying, using any calm pool of water that's at least 1 foot in diameter as the sole focus. At 15th level, this functions as greater scrying. She can use these abilities for a number of rounds per day equal to her shaman level, but these rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Oracle

Quote:

Water Sight (Su): You can see through fog and mist without penalty as long as there is enough light to allow you to see normally. At 7th level, you can use any calm pool of water at least 1 foot in diameter as a scrying device, as if using the scrying spell. At 15th level, this functions like greater scrying. You can use the scrying abilities for a number of rounds per day equal to your oracle level, but these rounds do not need to be consecutive.

The implications are two-fold. The first obvious consequence is that Shamans can only see through fog for rds/day. The second is that Shaman have to activate their ability to see through the fog as a standard action.

Conversely, the Oracle can see through fog all day without activation.

Is this just the writers reducing verbiage without realizing the consequences, or is this purposeful?

[Statboy]

Considering that Shaman is a hybrid class of Oracle and Witch it's probable that they are supposed to be the same. As a GM I would rule that "these abilities" refers only to the scrying and they have unlimited see through fog/mist capabilities. Because Oracle is the class that the ability is from I would consider that the higher authority. Using "these abilities" in a sentence separate from any abilities listed is a good way to cause confusion.

Using common sense, seeing through fog and mist is similar to seeing in low light or darkness. There are spells that can accomplish it, but most people that have it have it permanently.

[Markov Spiked Chain]

Here's the general clarification for the restriction only applying to the immediately preceding info.

I agree this is a very bad choice of wording, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to give fog/mist all the time, like Gaze of Flames (which works the same for both Oracle and Shaman.)