| Ezzran |
Alright, so, I'm a player in a Jade Regent game, and we just got to near the end of the first book. We've encountered
Mute (Ex) Zaiobe’s oracle curse renders her mute—she can’t
speak, use verbal spell components, or use her captivating
song as a result. This same curse, though, grants her the
ability to cast all spells as if using the Silent Spell metamagic
feat without modifying that spell’s actual level. In addition,
Zaiobe can communicate telepathically with any creature she is in physical contact with. She can also maintain a telepathic bond with one specific creature at a time by taking a full-round action to link her mind to that creature during telepathic communication. Currently, she shares this link with Kikonu, even though, ironically, the two are not speaking. Zaiobe can
change the target of her telepathic link once per day.
That's obviously a bit powerful for a level 2 Oracle, but I took the idea and wanted to make it playable, so here's my rendition of it. I tried to get all the key abilities in there eventually, but I wanted to spread them out a bit more.
Oracle Curse: Mute
The Oracle’s Curse renders her unable to speak. The Oracle casts all spells as if they have been modified with the Silent Spell feat, without changing their casting time or spell level.
5th level: The Oracle can communicate telepathically with anyone she is currently touching. This communication is language-dependent. She can use this ability to cast any language-dependent spell, but she must succeed on a Touch Attack against the target. She can only communicate this way with one person at a time.
10th level: The Oracle can, as a full round action, form a telepathic bond with one willing person. She can communicate with this person telepathically, at will, as if she was touching them. She can change the target of her bond once per day.
15th level: The Oracle can always understand and be understood when using her telepathic communications, as if under the effect of a Tongues spell. In addition, she can communicate telepathically with more than one person at a time, but she must be saying the same thing to all of them.
Dual-Cursed Oracles cannot take both this curse and the Tongues curse.
I'm considering a range limit on the level 10 bond ability, but other than that I think this is fairly well balanced. The ability to use language dependent spells with a touch attack is to get around the biggest weakness the idea of this curse had: It made it impossible for the Oracle to use language dependent spells, and for a caster that's pretty huge. The touch attack method makes it possible, while still making sure the curse is actually a curse.
The main difficulty comes from being almost unable to communicate properly (basically sign-language or writing stuff down) until level 5. But I kinda like it, anyway. :)