| Kurt |
First of all, to cover an older point in this thread, RAW do specifically make alignment a matter of individual choice.
Alignment, Size, and Type: While a monster’s size and type remain constant (unless changed by the application of templates or other unusual modifiers), alignment is far more fluid. The alignments listed for each monster in this book represent the norm for those monsters—they can vary as you require them to in order to serve the needs of your campaign. Only in the case of relatively unintelligent monsters (creatures with an Intelligence of 2 or lower are almost never anything other than neutral) and planar monsters (outsiders with alignments other than those listed are unusual and typically outcasts from their kind) is the listed alignment relatively unchangeable.
Secondly, I disagree that because the bard or witch can cast cure light wounds that makes it a non-divine spell. Bards are designed to be a jack-of-all-trades. Including a little bit of divine. Just like Oracles, which are specifically stated to not necessarily follow or worship any one God: "oracles garner strength and power from many sources, namely those patron deities who support their ideals. Instead of worshiping a single source, oracles tend to venerate all of the gods that share their beliefs." I would suggest a bard gets cure light wounds from whatever God happens to be listening right the hell now, cuz I really really really need healing. It is a mistake to assume that because it is listed in the same spell list with some arcane spells that it must be arcanely powered.
RaW - yes, deusvult is correct, it doesn't say that LoH is positive energy. The problem here is that different people have have a different threshold for what is "obviously/clearly" intended, what is "probably" intended, and what could go either way. Some of this will be different interpretations, as we all get out of the game the things we bring to it. Some of it is self-interest too. Personally, I find LoH=Positive Energy to be in the realm of obviously/clearly intended.
Now, about the Oracle of Life's energy body, that I think bears some investigation. Dhampir are stated to be the "unnatural union of vampires and humans". Meaning that they were never intended to exist. The Gods when they first created the idea of the energy body ability, probably weren't really concerned about whether that ability would harm a creature that happened to be half undead. Mixing life and undeath, for a lot of the good-aligned deities, would probably be profane sacrilege of the greatest magnitude. I would be open to arguments that a Dhampir would have a hard time even finding a God willing to accept him as a paladin. Remember, Gods are Gods of entire peoples, races, and portfolios. While the idea of a poor Dhampir that is not to blame for his condition who just wants to serve a God is a compelling story of personal courage, I could also see even the most touchy-feely care-bear-hug good-aligned God just not really giving a wet snap about that because there are far more important issues at stake. Like upsetting the entire natural order of life, death, and spiritual progression.
Take, for another example, the unnatural union of a fire and an ice elemental. They both fell in love and just couldn't stay apart. So they got some elemental immunity potions, and boom, suddenly you have a baby fice elemental. He looks just like his ice elemental mommy (complete with fire vulnerability), but darn it junior inherited his dad's burn ability. Well, the tot has a problem if he ever wants to use that ability, hmmm? It's not his fault. He was born that way. But while you can call it as unfair as you like, that little tyke is just out of luck. And despite junior's inherited ability to use fire, his inherited vulnerability to it probably makes fire-blooded sorcerer a poor career choice. And if he does pick using fire as his day job, he's got to accept there are going to be inherent restrictions. Likewise, I wouldn't really suggest Oracle of Life as an upwardly-mobile career opportunity for a creature that is the unnatural mix of life and undeath.
Just because a creature type exists and a class exists doesn't mean they are compatible, and it doesn't mean that every feature of the class is automatically possible for the creature just because the creature really really wants it to be. Or because the puppeteer behind the resultant character really really wants it to be.
So yes, I actually would suggest that if a Dhampir oracle of life used energy body, that it would deep-fat-fry him. Like a corn fritter, extra crispy. Now, if a player wanted to make a Dhampir oracle of life anyway, or a Dhampir paladin - say because the story the player came up with was that his character hated that spark of undeath in him. Maybe his character was driven to strive against evil and undeath in every way, and if the player understood certain class abilities would be denied, like using LoH to heal himself or using energy body at all, and if that player wanted to use those limitations to make interesting role play, then great!!! That there is exactly what this game is all about. The game isn't about stuffing any creature into any class and then expecting every feature or class widget to work as advertised just because the rules don't specifically forbid something.