Oracle Curses (PFRPG) PDF

I liked most of these curses. Some of them were just standard and seemed well developed (mercurial, impatient) others I liked more like deliberate, hyperactive and ponderous). Mute is a tough one, I saw it done in another product but I like this one better although if anyone can understand the sign language (5th level power) then the curse pretty much goes away (other than times you need to yell out a warning or are in complete darkness etc...). The big difference is that the author gave ideas about how to make it playable.

I think renowned should have been divided into famous and infamous with different but similar powers/defects.

Some "scaling" suggestions would have been good for Dependent.

Feeble was strange they take more damage but heal faster. It sounds like it probably balances but would have maybe knocked it down to a d4 extra damage. This one is doesn't really work story wise for me, although it could be kind of funny if your character kept getting knocked out every time he got hit only to spring up again the next round (finishing his sentence) cast a spell then gets knocked out again.

Overall it was great. The format was very minimalist. But this guy (the author) sounds like someone I would really want in my game and maybe more importantly someone I would want to buy/read more stuff from.

There’s an old saying – “simple is best.” That’s an approach that’s usually approached with wariness by gamers when it comes to RPG books. After all, we’re usually happier when there are big production values and expansive coverage on a given topic. Products like Oracle Curses, however, the debut product from Above Average Creations, showcase how with good writing and a few select illustrations, a product with a minimalist approach can still produce top-quality results.

Oracle Curses presents, appropriately enough, ten new curses for the oracle class from the Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide. The author, cogently noting that the mere six curses were far too few, presents another ten curses here. Interestingly, virtually all of these are curses of personality rather than physical problems.

What I found far more intriguing, however, was the author’s bold admittance that these curses were more to create strong role-playing opportunities than wow us with new rules’ crunch. Of course, that should be true across the board, but by focusing on curses that manifest as quirks of behavior, this is maximized. Moreover, there’s a helpful chart of the ten curses (with a note saying that you can roll randomly for your curse – something I found delightful; really, should a curse be something you choose for yourself?), and notes about their “type” (if they’re physical, mental, etc.) and how “strong” they are (how much they affect the character laboring under them).

The curses themselves are as imaginative as the author clearly wants them to be, ranging from being mute to being too famous for your own good, and more. While all function well mechanically (though to different degrees – taking a skill penalty is one thing, taking bleed damage with every attack is quite another), it’s the notations after them that are what really make this product.

Like all gamers, I enjoy being given glimpses behind the proverbial curtain. In this case, after each curse, there’s a paragraph wherein the author talks to the reader directly; while for a few of the curses he discusses the impact of them in the course of the game (such as how to deal with an oracle that’s mute), most focus on different ways of having the curse manifest in-game. For example, are you a hermit because you’re just a socially awkward, or were you raised by wolves, literally? The virtue of these sections is that they break you out of the more rigid thinking suggested by the curses themselves, reminding you that you can easily reskin many of these to allow for a broader characterization.

From a technical standpoint, the book has little to present, but what it has it presents well. The artwork is all historical pieces that are reused here (with a notation on where to find them and more online on the book’s credits page). There are no bookmarks, but in an eight-page book, that’s not really an indictment.

Unfortunately, the book is not without its share of problems. These aren’t faults of the content (though be warned, one curse does draw on some of the material in the GameMastery Guide, though that’s in the Pathfinder SRD now anyway), but of the book’s technical presentation. To be more specific: copy-and-paste doesn’t work the way it should – the words are copied in columns rather than lines. Likewise, there’s no declaration of Product Identity or Open Game Content; and the OGL Section 15 doesn’t list the Advanced Player’s Guide or GameMastery Guide.

Of course, these are problems with virtually no practical impact when it comes to using this book in your game. If you’re planning on playing an oracle, do yourself a favor and spend a dollar to pick up this product. The material here is as inspiring as it is expertly-presented, and gives some much-needed breadth to the curse of the oracle class. Unfortunately, Above Average Creations may need to change their name, since if this first book is any indication, their creations are excellent.

Oracle Curses by Above Average Creations

This product is 8 pages long. It starts with a cover and credits. (2 pages)

Curses (4 pages)
It starts off explaining the reasoning behind the book which is to expand on the curse selections to add more variety for the Oracle class. Next we get a curse table where it lists all 10 new curses, there type (mental, physical, or social) and how strong or bad the curse is. After that we get the curses game mechanics information. The 10 new curses in this book are.
Deliberate – you always decided things slowly.
Dependent – you have a living spell focus.
Feeble – take extra damage from hits.
Hermetical – social penalties.
Hyperactive – always moving some good and bad aspects to it.
Impatient – effects skill checks.
Mercurial – minor physical aspects change daily.
Mute – can not speak, but eventually gain telepathy.
Ponderous – big, overweight and slow.
Renowned – everyone knows who you are.

It ends with a OGL and back cover. (2 pages)

Closing thoughts. The art work is black and white, and is pretty good. Editing and layout is very good. I didn't notice any mistakes. The curse idea's are pretty cool all and all, I think I would tweak a couple of them before I allowed them. Since not all of them are equal, but then neither where the ones in the APG. For the price this is totally worth picking up for anyone that ever plans to play or allow Oracles in their games. While I don't think it is perfect, since I think a couple of the curses could have been tweaked a bit better it is very good. So what's my rating? I am going to settle on a 4.5, good and with a little work it is great, plus it is cheap.

Trust me, I'm a Succubus.

This first offering of Above Average Creations is a 8-page pdf, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving 4 pages of content, so let's check out whether this creation is truly above average.

The pdf begins by explain how its focus is providing 10 new curses to expand the support for the Oracle class. It also provides a list of 10 curses along information into which category (like social, physical, etc.) they fall as well as their strength. The curses are surprisingly well-crafted and range from getting bleeding wounds to being ponderous (i.e. large and slow), ever-changing (constantly changing e.g. hair color and features) to being mute or hyperactive, the curses succeed in feeling like curses with the possible exception of being a hermit, which usually would sooner or later result in acclimatization to culture sooner or later.

More importantly, the curses offer some room for DM-specifics: Dependant forces you to choose an external creature without which you cannot cast - make it e.g. a child brother and we're up for some interesting roleplaying opportunities. by the way, this example was taken directly from the pdf, as each curse comes with some idea as how to implement the curse and mine new roleplaying opportunities from the curse. The impatient-curse will be nerfed by yours truly, though: Its lvl 10-ability lets you roll 3 d20s for skill-checks and take the highest result. While not being able to take 20 or retrying skill-checks is hard, the downside does not make up for this very powerful ability.

Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a clear, printer-friendly two-column standard. The pdf comes with no bookmarks and the art is stock-art that fits the theme. I was positively surprised by this first offering of Above Average Creations, as it truly is above average.

The curses are well-written and the additional pieces of RP-advice make them valid options. While some of the design-choices (see the Impatient-curse) are a bit problematic, they are also easily fixed. the extremely low price, of course, also fractures into my final verdict. When all's said and done, I really love how the curses feel like curses, the roleplaying advice and most of the curses. Due to some rather strong mechanics like the aforementioned 3 d20s and the lack of bookmarks, I'll settle for a final score of 4 stars - a great first offering and highly recommended at the low price point.

Endzeitgeist out.