NPC Oracle who is a mastermind type -- doesn't fight himself, just sits at the center of a web of information and makes plans. Oracle of Lore, Human, middle aged (-1 physical stats, +1 mental). I think he started a a wizard and then something happened to him and now he's an Oracle. Perhaps a Diviner -- he delved a little too deeply and and, zap, hooked into something much more powerful than he'd ever dreamed.
Lame curse. Possibly either the Enlightened Philosopher or Seer archetypes. Overall a Wizard (Diviner) 3, Oracle 5. He's NG, and sees himself as the protector of a particular neighborhood of a big city -- a poor neighborhood, possibly a slum. He's sort of a crime boss in reverse: he works to make sure that the sick get healed, criminals and monsters are kept out, and the poor don't get enslaved or too grossly screwed over. Potentially either an ally or an antagonist for PCs, but not an obvious one -- he works through intermediaries most of the time.
So I'm looking for a build that is optimized for gathering information and using it for manipulation (for the greater good, to be sure). He should be able to defend himself in a pinch but he's definitely not a combat monster.
Thoughts?
Doug M.
drop a level of oracle and pick up mysthic thuerge imo, unless u wanna progress ur revelations.
or go pure lore. Story it as something that happened during his wizard apprenticeship. But with Pure Lore you can focus on CHA instead of Split CHA / INT
Lore Oracle can use CHA for Knowledge Skills. But with lower INT you have fewer skill points to go around.
Hard to balance concept and mechanics.
Kerebrus wrote:
Hard to balance concept and mechanics. That's one reason I made him middle aged -- +1 to Int, Wis and Cha.
15 point build could have started Str 9 Con 12 Dex 13 Int 14 Wis 13 Cha 13, human bonus on Int to 16. Put levelups on Cha and then make the middle-age adjustments and you get Str 8 Con 11 Dex 12 Int 17 Wis 14 Cha 16.
Doug M.
Upon consideration, a level of Mystic Theurge does make a lot of sense. Wiz 3, Oracle 4, MyThe 1 = pretty much all the first and second level spells anyone will ever need. The big drawback is that he loses his 5th level Oracle benefits -- 60' Darkvision or immunity to fatigue, plus a free daily Divination spell if he goes with the Seer archetype. Hm.
Doug M.
If he's mostly an information-gathering guy, Skill Focus (Diplomacy) and/or Skill Focus (Knowledge/Local) might be a good idea -- alternately, homebrew a feat that gives him +2/+2 to those two skills. Persuasive is another good feat (he should get Alertness because of his familiar, who is probably something flying or crawling all over the neighborhood to help gather information and keep an eye on things).
He could have a few reserve scrolls or a wand with a few charges or something if he really needs 3rd-level spells on a regular basis. Or
you could probably make him 9th level instead of 8th (Wiz 3, Oracle 5, MT 1); he won't be a combat monster anyway but that gives him the extra 3rd level spells you wanted.
Upon consideration, Wiz 3 / Oracle 5 / MT 1 is probably the way to go.
Background: I'd like this guy to be the patron for a group of good NPC adventurers. Tentative name is "The Defenders of Low Town", and their APL will be 6th. They're all good-aligned, and so may be either allies or antagonists for PCs, depending. The oracle mastermind also oversees a network of watchers who keep him informed about everything that happens in his neighborhood. -- Anyway: 9th level means he's comfortably more powerful than any of his allies, but maybe that's OK for a behind-the-scenes, non-combat mastermind.
Doug M.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Skin the lame curse as him being grossly overweight and base him on Nero Wolfe.
That's a neat idea, and I'll use it sometime, but probably not for this guy. Different sort of mastermind. More like Nate from "Leverage", if Nate got old and only cared about his particular corner of Boston any more.
Thanks anyway, though!
Doug M.
So: Wiz (Diviner) 3, Oracle of Lore 5, Mystic Theurge 1. Str 8 Con 11 Dex 12 Int 17 Wis 14 Cha 16. Middle-aged (late 50s) human. Appearance is a nondescript man in late middle age with dark glasses and a cane. (Going with the blind curse.) Revelations I think are Automatic Writing (Divination with 90% effectiveness once/day) and Focused Trance (enter a trance, get +20 -- ! -- on a Knowledge check, 3x/day).
Spells I think have to focus on (1) information, (2) manipulation and (3) deception. This guy is definitely not a fighter. Even with Mystic Theurge he's only getting one third level cleric spell, so I think he'll want a metamagic feat or two -- use that slot for Still Silent first level spells, and such.
RP terms, I think he spends most of his time sitting at a back table in a little bar/restaurant, drinking tea and thinking. The owners keep him supplied with food and drink -- he saved them from some horrible fate a few years back, and they adore him. There's a low-key but steady stream of people coming in to sit at his table -- to ask advice, beg for help, or pass along information. Once in a great while he puts on his jacket, picks up his cane, and walks slowly around the neighborhood. Everyone knows he's an important man who helps and guides the neighborhood, but only a few people have some idea what he is -- and even they think he's an ex-wizard who washed out of the academy.
Doug M.
I tend to dislike MT personally so here is a slighlty differnt outlook on the Oracle of Lore you described.
Oracle 9 Lore 15 point Buy (middle Aged) +2 cha Human +2 Char Level Up
Str 8
dex 8
Con 12
Int 14 +1 (Mental Acuity)
Wis 12
Cha 17 +2 +2
Feats: Mysteries:
Skill Focus Diplomacy
Still Spell
Cosmopolitan (Bluff&Disgise)
Eschew Material Components
Alertness
Leadership
Mysteries:
Automatic Writings
Focused Trance
Mental Acuity
Skills:
Bluff 5
Disguise 4
Diplomacy 9
Sense Motive 9
Spellcraft 9
Knowledge Local 9
Perception 9
Linguistics(For reading lips) 9
Knowledge Arcane 1
Knowledge Dungeoneering 1
Knowledge Enginerring 1
Knowledge Geography 1
Knowledge History 1
Knowledge Nature 1
Knowledge Nobility 1
Knowledge Planes 1
Knowledge Religion 1
The old man who sits in the back of the bar is deaf though he can read lips.
Leadership is more for followers then for Cohort, they are the people in the area he keep him informed of what goes on. Though sometimes he goes out and looks around for himself. His Diplomacy is rather high (20)for gathering information. And he is capable of talking his way out of situations (bluff) or recognizing when he is conned (Sense Motive). He also is due to being deaf all his life has learned to pay attention to what goes on around him. While his SKILL in knowledges (other than local) is only 6, when he goes into a trance that brings it to d20 +26. Finally all his spells are silent, he does not need many components, and he can still a spell also to cast spells subtely.
Ughbash, some really interesting ideas here. Thanks!
-- Straight Oracle build: yeah, maybe this is the way to go. Thematically, I like the idea that he was something else first, but it is complicating things a bit.
-- Stats: does he really need such a high Cha? Will he be casting a lot of save-or-suck spells? Likely not, so the spell DCs are not a huge issue. The bonus spell slots are nice, but maybe not worth ganking his other stats. Shall think on this.
-- Agree on the mysteries. Feats... is there a feat that gives multiple Knowledge bumps? Besides Breadth of Experience, which is only for gnomes and elves? But anyway, I also agree with your interpretation of Leadership. What's the point of Eschew Materials, though? I would think Still Spell would be the way to go there -- Still Silent first and second level spells seem very appropriate for a manipulator type.
-- I'm still leaning towards Impaired Vision rather than Deaf, mostly because it seems a better fit thematically. He wears dark glasses and a cane, and acts like he's nearly blind; in fact he has darkvision out to 60'. (Likely he'll take a trait that makes Bluff a class skill.)
The big missing piece now is spells. Ideas welcome!
Doug M.
I think I"m going to add a single level of aristocrat. This adds a few hp, +2 Will save and some skill ranks, but it doesn't actually make him much tougher -- it's for flavor rather than crunch.
He was the younger brother of the duke before last. A charming, carefree, rather shallow young man, he didn't take much of anything seriously -- and then something happened. His vision clouded and cleared at the same time, his mind filled with strange lore, his sleep became haunted by intense bizarre dreams. After a number of unhappy incidents, he fled the ducal mansion and the life he'd known. Most of his family think he's been dead for years; the current duke is aware that he's alive, but really prefers not to discuss his mad uncle who lives in a slum. Meanwhile, the former aristocrat has found meaning, and some measure of peace, in watching over the poor people of Low Town.
Doug M.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Douglas Muir 406 wrote:
-- Agree on the mysteries. Feats... is there a feat that gives multiple Knowledge bumps? Besides Breadth of Experience, which is only for gnomes and elves?
Cosmopolitan - You can speak and read two additional languages of your choice. In addition, choose two Intelligence-, Wisdom-, or Charisma-based skills. Those skills always count as class skills for you.
As an Oracle of Lore, he already has all Knowledge skills as class skills. I was just wondering if there was anything that gave an additional boost.
Doug M.
Anyway, will throw a rank or two at Craft: Artist (as in, painting and drawing). He spends a few hours a day as a healer -- runs a little clinic for the poor. Then he sits in the back of the restaurant with a pot of tea or, later in the day, a single glass of wine, and draws and doodles on a big sketch pad. This is his automatic writing mystery, and it's how he casts Commune every day without paying 500 gp. (That's actually a pretty b!++%in' power for a midlevel character.) But he also is a modestly talented artist who does sketches and watercolors for his own amusement. There are a fair number of his sketches and portraits floating around the neighborhood, many of them hanging in the homes of people he's helped.
(Not the automatic writing sketches, though. Those are abstract and symbolic and kinda disturbing, and he usually takes them up to his room and uses them to start his evening fire in the stove.)
Doug M.
|
