I've posted this on a different forum but I'll repost here as well.
Original Post:
I've been looking at the Bonus Spells an Oracle receives for a particular Focus and some fit the class perfectly but others seem out of place.
Like an Oracle of Battle getting Fog Cloud as a bonus spell at 5th level.
I've taken the liberty of jotting down a mock up of the bonus spells that could be switched for new spells for each focus. These new spells I feel are more advantageous because I have seen these spells used more often than other spells.
Level: Original Spell - New Spell
Oracle of Battle:
03rd Level: Enlarge Person - Stays the Same
05th Level: Fog Cloud - Rage
07th Level: Magic Vestment - Stays the Same
09th Level: Wall of Fire - Stays the Same
11th Level: Righteous Might - Stays the Same
13th Level: Mass Bulls Strength - Stays the Same
15th Level: Control Weather - Mages Sword
17th Level: Earthquake - Iron Body
19th Level: Storm of Vengence - Power Word Kill
Oracle of Flames:
03rd Level: Produce Flame - Stays the Same
05th Level: Resist Energy - Scorching Ray
07th Level: Fireball - Stays the Same
09th Level: Wall of Fire - Stays the Same
11th Level: Summon Monster V - Flamestrike
13th Level: Fire Seeds - Stays the Same
15th Level: Firestorm - Stays the Same
17th Level: Incendiary Cloud - Stays the Same
19th Level: Elemental Swarm - Meteor Swarm
Oracle of Stone:
03rd Level: Shield - Magic Stone
05th Level: Acid Arrow - Shatter
07th Level: Meld into Stone - Stays the Same
09th Level: Wall of Stone - Stays the Same
11th Level: Stoneskin - Stays the Same
13th Level: Stone Tell - Stays the Same
15th Level: Statue - Stays the Same
17th Level: Repel Metal or Stone - Stays the Same
19th Level: Elemental Swarm - Stays the Same
Oracle of Waves:
03rd Level: Obscuring Mist - Stays the same
05th Level: Chill Metal - Lesser Restoratin
07th Level: Quench - Water Breathing
09th Level: Wall of Ice - Control Water
11th Level: Baleful Polymorph - Cone of Cold
13th Level: Transmute Rock to Mud - Heal
15th Level: Freezing Sphere - Stays the same
17th Level: Animal Shapes - Polar Ray
19th Level: Shapechange - Mass Heal
Oracle of Winds:
03rd Level: Shield - Stays the same
05th Level: Gust of Wind - Soundburst
07th Level: Levitate - Windwall
09th Level: Freedom of Movement - Shout
11th Level: Control Winds - Stays the same
13th Level: Overland Flight - Chain Lightning
15th Level: Control Weather - Greater Shout
17th Level: Whirlwind - Stays the Same
19th Level: Storm of Vengence - Storm of Vengence
The way I'm looking at it is that there is no need to get additional spells at certain levels, instead give the oracle a spell list depending on what foci they took. This is like how the Wu Jen from complete arcane has their wood/earth/fire/water/air spells.
Each oracle would have the basic curative and buff cleric spells, but then depending on the chosen foci would also get a bunch of spells from druid or wizard spell list.
Rereading on the Wu Jen, they do have a split on elemental spells but there was no limit that they could only cast one element and were prohibited from casting the other elements.
Your idea works in theory but we would have to take all the spells and then look at each focus and divide up what spells would fit where, and that is not including the focus that are rumored to come out at later dates.
What may work is getting a new list of spells all together to give more of a feel that the oracle is it's own class and not a Sorcerer version of the Cleric, but still give the bonus spells for a particular focus to the Oracle as well.
Divination and Abjuration would best fit that list since the Gods have gifted particular individuals with "The Sight" and would obviously give ways for their chosen messenger to commune with them, and have the ability to interrupt the misleadings of others.
As I have said on other threads I think the problem would be solved by adding to the bonus spells attached to the focus , and starting the list at 1st instead of 3rd level. You wouldn't have to expand a new spell list, keep the divine list, however ,draw spells from ALL lists for the bonus spells. The bonus spells can come from druid, arcane, ranger, whichever, so long as they stay true to the Focus you have chosen, this way, you expand the choice of spells without altering the Oracle's core concept as a "Divine sorcerer chosen by the gods". While boosting the classes spellcasting ability (which everyone seems to agree is needed).
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I think I've made this point before, but I really don't think that a class that has access to shields should be forced to get the Shield spell (if they choose the stone or wind focus). I think that the stone focus should get Magic Stone, and that wind should Unseen Servant for their first level spells, personally.
Also, Oracles are not really "chosen by the gods" the way that the favored soul was. To quote Jason Bulmahn-
Oracles are not directly empowered by the gods themselves at all. The gods contribute their divine power to certain ideals (part of their portfolio). In some cases the gods have interests that overlap with each other, even if they do not share a similar view about how that ideal should be put forward or advanced. In any case, the ideal itself can manifest through mortals that have some link to it, either through a strange omen at their birth, the divine event, or some other reason. In this case, these mortals become a conduit for the divine power that fuels that ideal, becoming oracles.
The gods themselves have an odd relationship with the oracles. They cannot control them or dictate whether or not they get their powers, but the gods vie to sway them to their view of the ideal. The oracles on the other hand, are trapped in the middle, trying to understand why they have this power and making sense of the ideal that provides the strange powers that they possess.
Ok , perhaps chosen by a force of nature would have been more accurate, or by an element
The way I'm looking at it is that there is no need to get additional spells at certain levels, instead give the oracle a spell list depending on what foci they took. This is like how the Wu Jen from complete arcane has their wood/earth/fire/water/air spells.
There will be one focus for each domain. If you want to have over 30 spell lists in the book, you'll need to double that tome's size.
After much thought, I would prefer to see the oracle tied to the druid spell list personally since the best solution, it's own spell list, is not likely due to time and space constraints. Thematically, the oracle is much closer to the druid then the cleric, and the spell list should reflect this.
I don't think its a matter of making new lists. Simply adding spells to the bonus spell lists that are already present works fine. These spells should come from any, and all lists (druid would be fine) so long as they follow the theme that the character is built around. As I see it Oracles are intended to be a expression of a single concept/element , so long as the spells follow that concept they can be drawn from any list. This increases the spell choices without altering the concept of the class. Two or three choices at each level would give the needed depth in spells without overpowering the class. This would also allow for continued customization, which is almost always a good thing. Leave it at one choice per level for bonus spell, that is fine. Just give more spells to choose from. Thats what you need. Not a completely new set of spell lists. Doing this takes some pressure of the choices on the divine list, and makes the fact that Oracles dont have access to the entire divine list, like clerics do, not as big a deal.
Generally I think the Oracle needs one additional spell known at each level. Since in most parties he will take the role of party healer, and he doesn't have access to channel, he'll have to take healing spells which will limit his other known spells. I'm not talking so much about cure spells as I am things like restoration and remove paralysis. I think this could be done by adding an additional spell known for each focus. Of course the additional spells known for a focus could come from any appropriate spell off of any spell list. (To an extent thats how it works now, as there is at least one druid only spell in a focus and more than a couple sorc/wizard only spells.)
I also think that the bonus spell known from a focus should come as soon as the oracle can cast spells of that level, with the exception of the first level spell which should come at lvl 2 so that the Oracle gets a new known spell at that level. Thus, new spells come at 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc, instead of 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc. This also reduces the number of 'dead' levels that the oracle gets, so that only 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels get nothing new aside from normal progression (although that would work out to getting a feat that level since its an odd level, at least for a straight oracle), as opposed to every even level as it is designed now.
Another possibility would be letting Oracles choose their spells known from both the cleric and the druid list. (This ability might be a little too powerful if given the extra spell known like I suggest above, but I'm not convinced of that.) But given that the spells known by an oracle is limited, I don't think this should be an issue. And I don't see any synergies between spells on the cleric and druid lists that would be over powered, although I admit I haven't looked too hard.