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## [Tome Feat] Stellar Oracle

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Avoraciopoctules
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### [Tome Feat] Stellar Oracle

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Post by Avoraciopoctules » Sun Jul 11, 2010 4:56 am

I'm trying to write a feat for a reflavored Samurai who is really keen on astrology. Ideally it will be balanced, and give stuff thematically linked to prophecy, dreams, and possibly navigation. This is my first draft, and I'm still looking for relevant spells I could use. Particularly vexing is level 11, since I haven't come up with anything that looks nice around that level yet. Lesser geas is weird, and I haven't looked up the specifics of Nightmare, but both of them seem to lack the specific flavor I seek.
Stellar Oracle[Skill]
You look to the stars for power and inspiration.
Knowledge (Arcana) Ranks:
0: You may choose whether or not you dream each time you lose consciousness. This may be used to protect yourself from spells such as Nightmare. If you choose to dream, you have a decent chance of getting plot-convenient visions. You can try to get prophecies or premonitions about specific stuff.
4: You may use See Invisibility, Dream, and Legend Lore at will.
You may also use Contact Other Plane once per time you sleep or are unconscious for at least an hour.
9: You can use Analyze Dweomer at will.
You can also bargain with beings from beyond the stars for more direct assistance through your dreams. This works sort of like Planar Ally (instead of normal CR limits, you summon things at most 4 CR below you. It's still a general call for help, though the same thing might answer your call multiple times.), but you do it while you sleep and the beings are called to your physical location after you conclude the deal and wake up.
14: Lesser Geas, Nightmare and something else maybe.
Perhaps calling more powerful stuff with the caveat that bargaining takes much longer and is higher-stake.
Perhaps more choice in what you call.
19: You may use Astral Projection and Gate twice per day.
------------------------------------------------
Suggestions?
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CatharzGodfoot
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Post by CatharzGodfoot » Sun Jul 11, 2010 5:33 am

You could make it astrology based rather than dream based. You know, contact other plane after an hour studying the stars rather than sleeping, etc.
Last edited by CatharzGodfoot on Sun Jul 11, 2010 5:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
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Avoraciopoctules
  Overlord
  Posts: 8624
  Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
  Location: Oakland, CA

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Post by Avoraciopoctules » Sun Jul 11, 2010 5:40 am

That's certainly possible. I like the astral and dream magic, but it's getting enough focus to subvert some of what I originally envisioned for the character.
The main problem is getting enough stuff just out of studying the heavens. Prophecies, short-answer questions, and geographical information don't seem like enough stuff for a Tome feat to compete with Combat feats.
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CatharzGodfoot
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Post by CatharzGodfoot » Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:17 am

Is the goal of a skill feat to compete successfully with combat feats? Should every feats add equally to a character's combat ability? Or is it merely enough for a character to contribute the same amount of goodness to the adventure?
That said, I'm not telling you to drop all the power from the feat--I'm simply suggesting that "astrologer" is enough for one feat without having to add unrelated dream powers.
Having divination, legend lore, analyze dweomer, foresight, and discern location available whenever there is a clear night sky is pretty badass, although it comes with some big (surmountable) limitations. When you add 'the stars are right' planar binding, you can have power even when forced underground or when a malicious force is manipulating the weather. Throwing in immortality (astral projection) and gate on top of that seems excessive, but who am I to say what the game may look like at 16th level.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
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Avoraciopoctules
  Overlord
  Posts: 8624
  Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
  Location: Oakland, CA

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Post by Avoraciopoctules » Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:40 am

I want this feat to be valuable enough that a warrior type could pick it up without regrets. I'm playing a level 5 PC in a campaign with the continually-shifting playtest version of this feat, and Dream has been useful enough to justify the feat expenditure so far.
Divination, Foresight, and Discern Location are all spells I had forgotten about when I wrote this feat, and I'll definitely check them out before the next draft.
I agree that the level 16 stuff might be ridiculous. If I can't find anything better, I might just make it Astral Projection three times per day. Or something.
Going to sleep myself now, but I should have a changed version up within a day or 2.
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Avoraciopoctules
  Overlord
  Posts: 8624
  Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
  Location: Oakland, CA

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Post by Avoraciopoctules » Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:37 am

Still musing over possibilities. I have realized that if I want to give this some combat utility, calling down fireballs from the sky isn't all that bad an astrological fit. Chanting for a minute and hitting a target within line of sight could be interesting tactically, though I should probably implement somehting like that in a way that doesn't encourage really long range kiting tactics.
Dancing Lights is also something I could add at a low level.
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