i hate when people ask me what sign i am like bitch i’m a sign from god. start running.
au idea that i'll never get around to writing #437: the music video for genghis khan by miike snow but its shadowgast
Class Feature Friday: PF2 Ancestors Mystery (PF2 Oracle Mystery)
This week really has been full of blasts from this blog’s past, and we’re ending off with another one now.
Again, the original First Edition entry I did for this mystery was from the early days, so I hadn’t really refined my style (or formatting) at the time, so perhaps it’s good to go back to the concept through this new interpretation in a new system?
In any case, oracle mysteries are much more simple affairs this time around, relying less on picking and choosing different revelation spells and more on having the potential to learn a handful of special focus spells, not to mention other benefits.
What is interesting is that oracle curses are now directly tied to the mystery in question, which is… less fun than picking your own, and completely cuts out the image of the blind, lame, or tongues-speaking oracle, among other classic frailties. Then again, maybe that was considered a bit questionable with regards to actual disabilities?
Moving past that, the ancestor mystery represents a mystical divine connection to the oracle’s ancestors, or perhaps the ancestors of their culture or wider clan. Such oracles draw their power from divine fonts tied to tradition, community, and family, and no matter what deities and/or concepts they hold sacred, it is specifically the memory of those ancestors that the oracle draws upon.
The metaphysics for this likely vary a lot. The ancestors themselves might be granting a bit of their power and knowledge, or it might be filtered through a deity that is allowing the ancestors to contact and linger near their descendant, or translated by the deity from afar.
As you can imagine, this oracle is much more likely to crop up in cultures and ancestries where tradition and honoring the past are at the forefront, though with very, extraordinarily rare exceptions, everyone has parents, and by extension, grandparents and beyond. As such, any ancestry might make use of this mystery, though perhaps it is all the more intriguing when it crops up in a more atypical case.
At its baseline, this mystery allows the oracle to tap into the knowledge of their own ancestry, essentially granting them two extra ancestry feats across their progression, though these two extra techniques cannot be those tied to their physiology.
All mysteries also grant access to spells. At it’s most basic, one such spell blesses their next action with greater chance of success. Next, they gain the ability to shock foes with the mental pressure of their many guardian spirits with a touch.
They also gain access to either the cleric death or family domains, gaining the basic spells for one of those two, either bolstering themselves from loss of life, or soothing the minds of others.
With the use of oracle feats, these oracles can also gain access to deeper revelations, gaining new focus spells. The first lets them call on their ancestors to protect them from an oncoming effect, though doing so causes the nature of their current predominant ancestor to change (See below). The second allows them to become partially incorporeal, as if they were made of spiritstuff themselves.
Additionally, there are feats for unlocking the second domain, and gaining the second domain focus spell for either domain that they have access to, in this case destroying the undead with a blast of positive energy, and/or extending protection over allies who are in danger.
However, every mystery also comes with a curse. In the case of ancestor oracles, they find themselves subject to the meddling of their ancestral spirits, some fussing over them like doting parents, some playing tricks, and some being legitimately helpful in intention, but having a poor idea of how to do so. At first, these actions are relatively minor, their touch brushing over the oracle, but with each revelation they use, it gets worse. As the ancestors gain more influence, one will rise to the top to help guide them, bolstering their martial, skillful, or spellcasting actions, but potentially hampering others. Additionally, sometimes another spirit will take the reins during a stressful situation as well. The more prominent the curse becomes, the more powerful the benefits become, but also the harder it is to resist when a spirit wishes to deny an action that does not mesh with their personal strategy.
In addition to these class abilities, the following feats suit this mystery well: Divine Aegis, Domain Acumen, Domain Fluency, Bespell Weapon, Divine Access, Advanced Revelation, Debilitating Dichotomy, Greater Revelation, Forestall Curse, Divine Effusion, and so on, but given how flexible this mystery demands the oracle to be, you likely can use any of them with this mystery.
A fun mystery to be sure, but the fact that the curse requires the oracle to choose actions based partly on whatever spirit is currently in ascendance does mean that even if they have good dice rolls, they have to measure whether it is worth it to risk doing nothing instead of something suboptimal for the situation. As such, I recommend a build that is balanced between spells and combat, so they always have something to do unless they need to take the time and refocus to lower the effects of the curse.
While the base assumption of this mystery is that they honor and revere their ancestors alongside any gods, but what if they are reluctant oracles? Imagine the oracle who finds themselves pestered by their ancestors incessantly, dealing with criticism and constant reminders to perform duties for them. Could be fun to explore.
Being a child of dual heritages can be stressful for anyone, but you are also an ancestral oracle, and you have both sides of the family arguing inside your head constantly, that can be a bit much. Such is the life of Miria of Redhold, a half-orc priestess tasked with trying to act as mediator between the humans and orcs of the region.
Rather than inherit draconic sorcery from her bloodline,
Laciana instead hears the voices of her ancestors in her mind, and on occasion,
she can unleash divine fury with phantom draconic wings and breath. Occassionally, she hears whispers of the hoard of Nagrox, a powerful magma dragon ancestor whose hoard remains untouched to this day.
Gnoll culture is not well-explored by other ancestries, but contrary to common consensus, they actually carry a rich tradition of honoring their ancestors. Oracles of their people often carry long staves etched with the names and accomplishments of past members of a tribe, a single stick only being retired when it is full, preserved in a sacred place that no non-gnoll has ever seen.
Size comparison of Y’gathok, the Ceaseless Hunger and Bjorn, our level 20 Goliath Barbarian.
Hey quick question: why the FUCK do you have that
Imagine, from out of nowhere, your dm casually slapping this thing down on the table like any other encounter.
“Yeah, the fight will start in a sec, uh…I’ll give inspiration to whomever helps me get this fucking box out of my car.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/7asxci/oc_ygathok_the_ceaseless_hunger_final_boss_of_our/
This is the reveal of this ridiculousness during their game
Please watch this reveal video it’s kickass
FUCK ME the reveal video
“CHRIS??????”
“Um, I don’t think our plan is gonna work.”
Always reblog Y'gathok
DM:*Pulls out Y’gothok* *Turns on “Open Your Heart” by Crush 40*
Wow that DM really goes above and beyond
Reblogging Ygathok because it’s been one year since we fought him!!!! It just popped up on my timeline today!
Happy one year anniversary, our precious Old God boi!!!
One year ago today, this boy was revealed.
And for you guys, I have great news: I have the stats of Y’gathok complete and a general design for “how to use him” done. However, an adventure guide is incoming to teach you how to integrate him into any of your worlds!
A friend of mine made a Search and Rescue Paladin that I think is just really Neat. @wearepaladin, any thoughts?
Actually, I’m going to pull this out into its own post. Trent Ikithon may have wanted to prove a point to Caleb, but I really do think the insult of burning the temple was a deliberate choice made in response to Caduceus reading him for filth earlier in the campaign. (Episode 110)
To a man like Trent, that’s the sort of thing that would lead to holding a deep and abiding grudge. He doesn’t give two shits for Caduceus’s deity, for his home or for the sacred space. But he knows it’s important to the Clay family, and thus he chooses that as the site of his attack.
And that’s the one thing that manages to truly anger Caduceus, more than leave him disappointed in the actions of others. And that is lovely.
Caduceus is being a LITTLE extra right now. Like dude, yeah, your house is a bit destroyed, but like... this moment isn't about you.
It wasn’t just a house, it was a temple in a grove sacred to his deity. And that’s kind of important. Like, even if it was just his house, he’d be allowed to be mad, be extra, but the level of anger we’re seeing here is due to the outrageous act of disrespect to the Wildmother in her home.
I also think perhaps Trent’s choice of the location was a very deliberate thing, an act of retaliation for this moment:
Take the moon as your bow and string it taut with stars. Find your target in the darkness. Fire if you are sure– But be careful; astral arrows do not miss, and though it helped you bare your teeth, the sky alone cannot bear your grief.
a jc leyendecker – but it’s orcs once more
<3_<3
I didn’t realise I needed this until now
“omg how do u come up w this stuff” well ive been plagued by visions since birth
op that’s called having eyes
my name isnt op its monty and i bet God hasnt even spoken to you once
