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As the title says. Nobody can -choose- to be a sorcerer. The sorcerer fluff is pretty clear that their magic comes from arcane powers inheirent in their bloodline, thus, one is almost always born a sorcerer. The only way for one to ever become a sorcerer by their own accord would be some kind of mad magical genetic experiment...which begs the question...if they where smart enough to devise some arcane ritual to give themselves a magical bloodline, why not just study wizardry since while likely slower has a much -larger- payoff power-wise instead? So it's safe to say that 99% of sorcerers out there do not choose to become sorcerers or actively seek out their powers. It's either inherited or forced on them without their consent. While their may be some outliers for the most part, you can't choose to become a sorcerer unless some seirous arcane tampering with your genetics is involved which means you are either already an accomplished wizard yourself, or filthy rich enough to pay one to do the tampering for you.
Oracles, however, are odd. Sorc fluff is clear: You can't become a sorcerer by choice, at least not easily, anyway. However, unlike sorc fluff, Oracle fluff is...contradictory. On one hand, the base fluff basically makes Oracles out to be divine sorcerers. The gods hand them their powers without them ever asking for or choosing them, and thus from looking at just this one would believe that, just like you can't choose to become a sorcerer usually, you also can't choose to become an Oracle/pursue the powers of an Oracle by your own accord.
However, when you get into splatbooks the fluff on Oracles remains far less...consistent...then that of sorcerers. The Occult and JuJu mysteries, unlike your standard oracle mysteries, are fluffed as the result of the Oracle communing with the spirits of the dead or the wendifa spirits of the JuJu religion, respectively. Thus, Oracles of these two mysteries seem far less like "divine sorceres" who are just handed their magic and more like "spirit druids" in that, like druids, their power comes from communion with a force larger them them, except instead of that force being "nature" like it is for druids it is "the spirits of the dead" or "the wendifa" respectively. While one could argue that one has to be born with an "attunement" to the spirit world to be able to commune with these spirits, nothing in their fuff says this, which leads me to believe that for at least these two mysteries, anybody who wants to and has the right mindset and devotion to the spirits that grant them can gain them.
The contradictory fluff does not end here though. Enter the Outer Rifts and Spellscar Mysteries. These mysteries state contact with the Outer Rifts(or a similar planar anomaly) or spellscars/wild magic as the ONLY thing required for gaining their powers. Thus, while some oracles with these mysteries could have gained them by accidental contact with such forces nothing is stopping a particularly ambitious(and likely a tad crazy and definitely low-wisdom) individual from purposely exposing themselves to the phenomenons that grant these mysteries in the hopes that they gain powers from it.
Finally several Oracle archtypes seem to have fluff that indicates one could seek out the powers they grant. Spirit Guide Oracles seem largely the same as JuJu and Occult Oracles being that their magic comes from communion with spirits and it never comes out and says that a "natural attunement to the spirit world" or something similar is in play for the Spirit Guide. A possessed Oracle, likewise, is another case of "little specification" since while most possessions are unwilling nothing in the fluff says that a possessed Oracle can't be a person who willingly let some horrible spirit live in their body in return for the magic powers they grant them. The Black-Blooded archtype also functions a lot like the outer rifts and spellscar mysteries in that it makes the Oracle's magic come from exposure to a magical phenom on rather then as a blessing or a gift, which while possibly accidental could come from an individual seeking out that pheromone as well.
So, the question becomes, with all this contradictory fluff, could an Oracle of ANY mystery, not just the ones listed, be an individual who sought and obtained their divine magic power on their own either through devotion to the gods, communion with spirits or some other method rather then an individual gifted with their power?
I would appreciate a discussion of the possibility of "self-made Oracles" here.
The oracle is my favorite class, in part because you're pretty much free to pick and choose how your character fits into the setting and how they came to possess their mysteries and curses.
Though most published oracles I've seen have been of the involuntary kind (if explained at all), the first installment of the Giantslayer AP has an oracle NPC who gained his powers through exposure to supposedly volcanic fumes which are supposed to grant visions of the future. Since the orcs of Belkzen has a temple by the volcano for this purpose, and since at least this particular NPC left with a level in oracle, it would seem reasonable to assume that this is not that uncommon.
Beyond that, there's really nothing stopping you from making any kind of flavorful mystery/curse combination. Though I'm always hesitant to pick the harsher curses like clouded vision, I do like the idea of a secluded order of oracles who receive their insight (and solar/flame mysteries) by meditating and staring at the sun until their sight's ruined for example.
Yeah, I suspect it's possible. It's probably not very common because unlike most classes, there is a very real immediate cost in the form of the curse. I played a mythic campaign where my character "made" a possessed oracle by having part of her own soul (quite powerful from consuming many other souls) possess the soon-to-be-Oracle. It wasn't a full possession, but enough to secure unswerving loyalty and grant a hefty chunk of power.
Becoming a Waves/Stone/Nature/etc. Oracle might be similar to becoming a Druid, but without the support network. In general, if you have somebody that might have otherwise been a Cleric or Druid, and have them work towards that without tutoring or religious texts, I think you're likely to arrive at Oracle.
On a related note- a self-made Sorcerer is more or less what an Arcanist is, I think. Especially the archetype with a bloodline. More precision at the cost of less raw power.
Off topic-
I don't know that Sorcerers would necessarily be viewed as less powerful than Wizards in-game, though. A Wizard is dependent on a book (or books), and is cripplingly weak without one. There could definitely be a view that Wizards are just imitations of Sorcerers. And while Wizards get spells a level early, their starting age is much later- in-game, it's Sorcerers throwing around spells while Wizards are studying cantrips.
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it doesn't seem all that contradictory to me. In all the cases, the Oracle-to-be was picked by, and given their powers by, a powerful outerworldly being. The former cases involve the being picking that person for their own unknowable reasons. The latter cases just involved the person actively seeking the attention of that being. Weather or not that attention results in Oracle-to-be in receiving powers is entirely at the discretion of the Powerful Being.
So, yes, I guess that someone actively seeking out a Patron could be the fluff behind a straight Bass Class no frills Oracle.
The general idea of becoming an oracle by your own hand seems simple- just stick you head in a timey-wimey wibbly wobbly thing.
I never said it was a good idea. Just simple. Generally, oracle is built around the concept that a world warping power has been placed inside you...and you broke from it (hence the curse).
So it is rather easy to have haphazard methods of drinking/injecting/having intimate times with the swirling glowing thing of the week as your justification. You tried something crazy, and it (mostly) paid off.
The black blood curse seems like a good example of this- the text generally implies that you were exposed to that junk, and now you have powers.
You could also rely upon an outside power, but do it on your terms. Contacts with devils seem like a straight forward method. The ancestor mystery seems like it is somewhat like that too. You could also find some long sleeping being of power and try to do some vague ritual to tap into it. Obviously...these methods also sound like a bad idea, since they leave you open to manipulation.
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Yeah, I personally think the curse aspect of the Oracle fits quite nicely with the kind of fluff you mentioned, Lemeres. You can mess with Cthulu for power all you want, but don't expect to be the same person you where before you started dabbling with that kind of thing after you got what you wanted out of the deal. Throwing yourself into the outer rifts, injecting yourself with magical black ooze, letting a fiend possess you, communing with spirits of dubious morality or pretty much any of the conceivable ways one could make themselves an Oracle is going to come with some hefty drawbacks, and the curse aspect of the class is a very nice way to show the price people who seek such power must pay to obtain it. Thats why for these characters wisdom makes a good dumb stat, and why clerics and druids need wisdom more then anything else. Clerics commune with otherwordly powers, but do so in the frame of spirtuality and thus stick to powers that they know are "safe" to contact...naimly deities and nature. They have the wisdom to know the "right" way to divine power. Oracles, however, have none of the cleric or druid's wisdom. They may be spiritual, but they won't have the same degree of understanding surrounding the source of their power that the cleric or druid will. A cleric has a deep, intuitive understanding of their deity that comes from their deep wisdom. An Oracle may be given their power by a God, and may even be a devout worshiper of that god, but dose not have the same deep, intuitive connection to them a Cleric dose.
Thus, since an Oracle lacks this deep intuitive understanding of the divine powers that can grant them their magics...they have no compulsion to stick to "traditional" sources of divine magic. They can call upon Cthulu without a concern in the world. They can commune with spirits they have little understanding of(while a shaman meanwhile is intuitively connected to the spirit world as a cleric is to his/her God.) They can traffic with fiends for power and toy with forces they really don't understand....except...for trafficking with forces they do not understand, they run a LOT of risks, which often can have terrible prices(as played out mechanically by an Oracle's curse.)
This is how I've always seen Oracles, anyway, and why I usually play them with a wisdom penalty stat-wise. Not ALL Oracles have to be involved with non-traditional sources of divine magic, but all Oracles, even the "traditional" ones who are chosen against their will by the Gods to become Oracles, share the fact that they don't have the deep, intuitive connection to the source of their power that clerics, shamans and druids do. They are operating with no guidebook, playing with divine magic and hoping what they try works....and as a result, their path is one that is filled with inherent risk whether they be a vile necromancer who gets their magic by communing with unclean spirits they personally seek out(Bones Mystery Spirit Guide Oracle =D) or a wielder of holy magic granted to them by Sarenrae without them ever asking for it. (Good-aligned Flames or Life Mystery Oracle =D)
The oracle I'm playing right now is, at least to a certain degree, an oracle by choice. Her town got overtaken by a plague when she was a child, and her mother was an herbalist trying to discover a cure, but was killed before she could get it figured out. Mom made a plea to the gods, who granted her the ability to pass along the power to cure the plague, but it needed someone to act as a conduit. Mom came to Ellanora to ask her to be that conduit, and Ellanora agreed in order to save everyone. Though she didn't keep the full power (too much to handle; it ended up nearly blinding her), some of the ability stayed impressed upon her spirit, and she's adventuring now to understand that ability better and improve her ability to control it.
So, she didn't intend to keep that power forever, just to allow herself to be used to cure that particular plague outbreak, but it stuck around. That's one of the easier ways I see to handle becoming an Oracle by choice - intentionally seeking power, but having it stick around and manifest in ways you didn't necessarily intend, as well as causing harm (the oracle curse) in a way that the person didn't intend.
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Bottom line for my table, classes are sets of mechanical abilities. Whatever flavor the writer tacked onto them is a suggestion only. Make a character concept you like and want to play, then find a way to build it. Feel free to ignore any and all flavor you find in class/trait/feat/spell descriptions and just use the base mechanics however you like.
If you want a godless Oracle, play a godless Oracle. If you want a necromancer that shoots little screaming skulls at people instead of "vague dart like bolts of force", then play a necromancer that shoots little screaming skulls at people instead of magic missiles.
You want to play a "barbarian" that is too shy to fly into a rage when people are watching? Play a Rogue and just say the sneak attack is your "barbarian" raging when the target isn't looking at them.
Long as you're having fun playing a character you like, forget what the books tell you something should be, and just play it how you want.