So what are your favorite Oracle Mysteries and Curses?
My favorite mystery: Life
I also like Dragon, Heavens, Spellscar, and Wood.
My favorite curse: Tongues
I also like Covetous, Haunted, and Lame.
I haven’t yet actually played an oracle, but I have one on the backburner for a campaign using the dragon mystery and hunger curse... I looked over the curses like a hundred times and that was like the only one that popped out to me as potentially fun...
Bonus answer... least favorite curse: Site-bound... practically unplayable.
Time is great. Tons of good revelations.
The Deaf Curse is also interesting. A point in linguistics allows a character to read lips.
I haven't played a full oracle either, but I took one level of (dual- cursed) oracle for thematic reasons when my bloodrager was resurrected.
I went with the Lame curse (he never quite got over the injury that killed him) and the posessed curse (something came back with him). The Lame curse is hid "main" curse (the one that progresses) for obvious reasons.
For the Mystery I went Succor (the Bodyguard feat as a revelation is nice as the party's main tank), but my first revelation was the Misfortune revelation from being dual-cursed. I flavour this as the "spirit" who now inhabits him influencing the world around him.
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One idea I've had for a character is a Battle Oracle with the Legalistic Curse. The character would be a holy warrior dedicated to god like Iomedae or Sarenrae who swore an oath to never tell a falsehood as a part of the ceremony that gifted them their powers.
So, in a way, the "curse" is self-imposed.
For Mysteries: So many good choices -- it depends upon what kind of Oracle you want to make:
Warrior Oracle: You want Ancestors, Battle, or Metal.
Controller Oracle: You want Stone, Succor, or Time.
Ranger Oracle: You want Wood.
Ghost Rider: You want Reaper.
Spooky Oracle: You want Apocalypse, Bones, Dark Tapestry, Dragon, Juju (2 versions, both worthy of consideration), Occult, or Shadow.
Trickster Oracle: You want Whimsy.
Firebat ("I'm burninatin'"): You want Flame or Volcano.
Non-Firebat: You want Stone, Waves, or Winter.
Multibat: You want Elemental.
Starsong Acolyte: You want Heavens.
Investigator Oracle: You want Intrigue, Lore, or Streets. For Inspector Clouseau, add the Pranked Curse.
Out-Cleric a Cleric: You want Life.
Druidic Oracle: You want Lunar or Nature.
Dawnflower Acolyte: You want Solar.
Antimagic Oracle: You want Spellscar.
Curses are a lot more uneven, and unfortunately those that add spells to your list (like Blackened) don't give you an alternative benefit if your Mystery (like Flame or Volcano) already gives you the spells.
Curses are a lot more uneven, and unfortunately those that add spells to your list (like Blackened) don't give you an alternative benefit if your Mystery (like Flame or Volcano) already gives you the spells.
Yeah I was really annoyed that the Blackened curse and the Flames mystery give some of the same spells - had they really run out of fire themed spells?
My favourite mysteries are Heavens, Life, Time, and Metal. (The last is particularly good for a warrior-themed two-level dip: Lead Blades spell, extra speed from a revelation, boosted Will save, and the ability to use cleric/oracle healing magic items which happen to be picky about things like "class spell lists".)
My favourite curses are Tongues and Blackened.
Mystery is hard to say but curse, I love shattered psyche. The only real acceptable way to play a character with a tragic backstory
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Curses are a lot more uneven, and unfortunately those that add spells to your list (like Blackened) don't give you an alternative benefit if your Mystery (like Flame or Volcano) already gives you the spells.Yeah I was really annoyed that the Blackened curse and the Flames mystery give some of the same spells - had they really run out of fire themed spells?
For this, I was toying with the idea that if you get a spell added to your list when it is already on your list, you get Specialist Benefits for it as if you were a Specialist Wizard in the Arcane School including the spell even if it isn't on any arcane spell list, provided that you cast it at the higher level if you get it onto your list at different levels. (Of course, this would have to go with Specialist Wizards getting special benefits when casting spells in their Specialty School. Example Specialist Benefits relevant to above example: Burning Hands increases from d4s to d6s, and Wall of Fire turns its area of effect into Difficult Terrain.)
I noticed there are a lot of mysteries that have an option to replace Dex with Cha. Too bad there isn't one to replace Str with Cha.
Not a Mystery, but the Divine Fighting Technique of Desna (scroll about half way down) replaces both Strength and Dexterity, and this would certainly work on an Oracle who worships Desna.
I like occult mystery with legalistic curse. It's very satisfying when someone breaks their word and opens the door for you to easily magic jar them. The capstone bringing you back as a ghost is just gravy.
I also really like wrecker. If I could figure out a way to play a character whose gear is always broken, I'd finally get to make the guy. Maybe a volcano mystery oracle staying in magma form most of the time? I'm not sure.
^Wrecker and Blackened Curses hurt less on somebody who is mainly casting or who is mainly using natural attacks or Improved Unarmed Strikes.
Favorite Mystery: Metal
Favorite Curse: Lame
As long as you wield a metal weapon, your curse doesn't affect you.
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^Not really -- while Dance of the Blades from the Metal Mystery offsets the speed reduction of the Lame Curse when you are wielding a metal weapon, the reverse is also true, so if you DIDN'T have the Lame Curse, you would be moving even faster.
Unfortunately, they don't have a Duck-Scarred Oracle Curse . . . .
Probably the blackened one, though I'm surprised there is some kind of insanity curse, considering some of the old stories have mad seers and the like.
I think you mean "I'm surprised there isn't some kind of insanity curse..."
Probably the blackened one, though I'm surprised there is some kind of insanity curse, considering some of the old stories have mad seers and the like.
There are a few that fit that bill, actually. There's the Reclusive Curse if your Oracle has paranoia and Shattered Psyche for the "hearing voices" variety of madness.
In one game I played in, I used Haunted for the curse. My character regularly talked to the spirits that threw stuff around that no on else could see. Good times. Everyone thought she was batty.